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NAKD'S ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES.— No. 197-198 



t ILIAD OF HOMER 



BOOKS I, VI XXII, AND XXIV 



ALEXANDER POPE 



WITH INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATORY 
NOTES 







s^WO COPIES RECEIVED 

NEW YORK ^ UL *-V I -^ 

MAYNARD, MERRILL, & CO. 




ALEXANDER TOW 

>G6 



Copyright, 1898, by Maynard, Merrill, & Co. 



/■Zr- ifl 1 /*' 






INTRODUCTION* 



The Iliad is a Greek epic poem produced about one thousand 
years before the Christian era. It is very generally conceded to 
be one of the greatest poems in all literature, and as such has 
been admired from the dawn of Greek history to the present day. 

Since Wolf, in 1795, denied that the Iliad and Odyssey were 
the work of one poet, the authorship of the Iliad has been a sub- 
ject of contention among scholars. Here it will only be possible 
to give a general view of the most modern, and most widely 
accepted theories as to the origin of the poem. 

Homer. When we speak of Homer we do not mean a person 
historically known to us in the way that Shakespeare or Pope is 
known. The name Homer is conventional, its etymological 
meaning being "fitted together." Nothing is accurately known 
of Homer's life. All the knowledge we possess is derived from 
his works, from the scattered notices supplied by ancient litera- 
ture and tradition, and from inferences drawn from archaeology. 

In the Homeric age the Bard was an important and influ- 
ential member of the -courts of princes, and every princely court 
presumably had its court poet who was prepared to recite from 
memory the famous deeds of heroes. But, as there could not 
have been a great number of original poets of merit, it must have 
been the custom for one bard to learn from another. If this were 
the case, there was probably some sort of school of poetry to 
which the minstrels would resort. We can then conceive of the 
Iliad as originally a short poem by some supreme poet (Homer) 
which won its way to favor by intrinsic merit. After a time the 

* This introduction lays no claim to originality, the editor believing that his 
task would be most acceptably accomplished if he gave the views of scholars 
who are recognized as authorities. The list of these given at the end will, 
it is hoped, prove of great assistance to the teacher. 



4 INTRODUCTION 

immense superiority of this short poem to those of other poets 
would be generally acknowledged, and the Homeric influence 
over the school of bards would be so dominant that all future 
work would be colored and inspired by it. We can thus see how 
it would have been possible for other bards, great poets too, to 
add their own poems to the original until the Iliad would have 
reached its present length. In answer to the question of how it 
w r ould be possible for the work of the succeeding poets to be 
kept at the high level of the original, we may say that in the case 
of great Italian painters it frequently occurs that a pupil's work 
is quite indistinguishable from that of the master. Nor for this 
reason is the master's reputation diminished. It merely shows 
that a supreme artist has the power of raising lesser men to 
his own eminence by his inspiring influence. 

Another theory is that the Iliad, while the work of a number 
of bards, owes its present literary form to Homer, who joined 
together the different parts and made it an organic whole. 

In England especially, the old theory that the Iliad is the work 
of one poet still holds its ground, and is advocated by many 
scholars. 

If the theory of the multi-authorship of the Homeric poems be 
accepted, we have in the Iliad, not the voice of a single poet, but 
the splendid heritage of a whole age of Greek history. The 
Greeks themselves, and all men until the end of the eighteenth 
century, were practically unanimous in believing the Iliad and 
the Odyssey to be the work of one poet, Homer. The Homeric 
poems were dearer to the Greeks than national poems have been 
to any people. They w 7 ere simple and strong enough to be popu- 
lar early, and mature enough in art to please a ripe culture. 
Greek boys learned Homer by heart at school, moralists went to 
him for maxims, statesmen for arguments, noble houses to prove 
their descent from heroes. From about 450 b. c. "Civic" or 
public editions were prepared by various cities for their own use 
at public festivals. Private editions were also numerous. The 
most famous was that which Aristotle prepared for his pupil, 
Alexander the Great, an edition which the youthful monarch 



INTRODUCTION 5 

carried in a jeweled casket all through his eastern campaigns. 
The oldest and best manuscript of the Iliad now extant is one 
dating from the tenth century, found at Venice late in the last 
century. The first printed edition of Homer was published at 
Florence in 1488. 

The Trojan War. The cause of the Trojan War was as fol- 
lows : The City of Troy or Ilium was the capital of Troas, a 
kingdom in the northwestern part of Asia Minor on the Helles- 
pont. Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, while on a visit to 
Sparta fell in love with Helen, the wife of Menelaus, King of 
Sparta. Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, and 
before she had married Menelaus many of the other kings in 
Greece had been her suitors. When, therefore, Paris seized her 
and carried her off in his galley, Menelaus had no great diffi- 
culty in organizing a powerful armament to avenge his wrongs. 
Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus and King of Mycenae, was 
chosen commander-in-chief. The other most remarkable leaders 
were Achilles from Thessaly, the son of Peleus, the most famous 
of the Greek heroes ; Ajax from Salamis, the son of Telamon ; 
Ulysses (Odysseus) from Ithaca ; Diomede from Argos, the son 
of Tydeus ; and Nestor from Pylos, the oldest of the heroes and 
one whose opinion was greatly respected. Besides these there 
were many others of inferior note. When the Grecian host, 
which filled twelve hundred ships, arrived on the coast of Troas, 
they laid siege to Troy. But the Trojans, headed by Hector, the 
son of Priam; with ^Eneas, a Trojan chief; Sarpedon, King of 
Lycia; Pandarus of Zeleia, and others, made so vigorous a resist- 
ance that the siege was prolonged for ten years. During these 
years the besieging army occupied itself with attacks on towns 
round about and forays into the neighboring territory. 

The Story of the Iliad. It is after one of these petty conquests 
during the last year of the war that the incident occurs which 
forms the subject of the poem. In a division of booty such as 
always followed the capture of a town, Chryseis, the daughter of 
a priest of Apollo, is allotted to Agamemnon, the leader of the 
host. The father's offer of a princely ransom for his daughter is 



6 INTRODUCTION 

met by Agamemnon with scorn. The father then prays to Apollo 
for vengeance. Apollo sends a plague on the army, which Cal- 
chas, the augur, after being encouraged by Achilles, declares to 
be a token of the god's anger at the detention of Chryseis. Aga- 
memnon after an angry debate with Achilles, agrees to restore 
Chryseis, but in return seizes the maiden, Bryseis, who had fallen 
to the share of Achilles. Achilles in his rage at this indignity 
betakes himself to his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, and she 
obtains from Zeus (Jupiter) a promise that the Trojans shall have 
the upper hand in the war until justice is done to her son.* 
Achilles then withdraws entirely from the active work of the 
siege. The war moves on with fluctuating results until the 
Greeks are driven back to their ships and fire is brought to burn 
them. The moment has now arrived which Achilles had fixed in 
his mind, up to which he could maintain his rigid abstention 
from the contest. He sends his forces, the Myrmidons, into bat- 
tle under the leadership of his bosom friend, Patroclus. The 
tide is at once turned, but only after Patroclus has been slain by 
Hector. The grief of Achilles is as portentous as his wrath. He 
now returns to the fray and passes like a devastating whirlwind 
over the plain. Finally Hector himself appears, and after being 
pursued three times around the walls of Troy falls before the 
dread spear of Achilles. Then comes the reconciliation of Aga- 
memnon and Achilles. This is effected by the agency of Thetis, 
who calms her son's fierce wrath. Achilles finally consents to re- 
turn to aged King Priam the body of Hector, and the poem con- 
cludes with the obsequies of the hero who had been the main 
prop of Troy. 

Achilles. It will at once be noticed that the subject of the 
poem is not the Trojan War but merely an episode occupying 
about a month in the last year of the war. The Greek word 
menis, meaning wrath, with which the poem begins, is its key- 
note. The wrath of Achilles, its cause, its effects, and its end, 

* To a Homeric hero the prize was valuable not only for its intrinsic worth 
but also as an honorable recognition of his services. A prize taken away, 
then, is a dishonor. 



INTKODTJCTION 1 

form the theme of the poem, of which Achilles is the hero. 
John Addington Symonds has described the character of Achilles 
acutely : 

4 'He, more than any character of fiction, reflects the qual- 
ities of the Greek race in its heroic age. His vices of passion 
and ungovernable pride, his virtue of splendid human hero- 
ism, his free individuality asserted in the scorn of fate, are 
representative of that Hellas which afterward, at Marathon and 
Salamis, was destined to inaugurate a new era of spiritual free- 
dom for mankind. It is impossible for us to sympathize with 
him wholly, or to admire him otherwise than as we admire a 
supreme work of art, so far is he removed from our so-called 
proprieties of moral taste and feeling. But we can study in him 
the type of a bygone, infinitely valuable period of the world's 
life, of that age in which the human spirit was emerging from the 
confused passions and sordid needs of barbarism into the higher 
emotions and more refined aspirations of civilization ; of this 
dawn, this boyhood of humanity, Achilles is the fierce and fiery 
hero. He is the ideal of a race not essentially moral or political ; 
of a nation which subordinated morals to art, and politics to per- 
sonality ; and even of that race he idealizes the youth rather than 
the manhood. In some respects Odysseus is a truer representative 
of the delicate and subtle spirit which survived all changes in 
the Greeks. But Achilles, far more than Odysseus, is an imper- 
sonation of the Hellenic genius, superb in its youthfulness, 
doomed to immature decay, yet brilliant at every stage of its 
brief career." 

The Other Characters. The other characters are quite over- 
shadowed by the superhuman grandeur of Achilles. Odysseus, 
the hero of the Odyssey, although a great and many-sided charac- 
ter, falls into a minor position when Achilles is on the scene. The 
other heroes on the Greek side are brought into prominence while 
Achilles is in retirement. Thus in the third and fourth books 
Menelaus is the hero ; in the fifth and sixth, Diomede ; in the 
seventh, Ajax ; in the thirteenth, Idomeneus. Agamemnon, 
though strong in policy, is the least Achaean of all the chieftains, 



8 INTRODUCTION 

tainted with selfishness and greed of gain, and without the 
bravery in council which he shows on the field. With him 
the others compare favorably ; the modest valor of Menelaus ; 
the brilliance of Diomede almost rivaling that of Achilles ; the 
sturdiness of Ajax. On the Trojan side Hector is at times un- 
worthy of the exalted position he holds. He compares poorly 
with Sarpedon and Glaucus, but advantageously with the effem- 
inate Paris. His courage is far from perfect, and his character 
is tainted by occasional boastfulness and rashness. But he is 
pious toward the gods, affectionate in his home, and an unselfish 
patriot, laden perhaps with more responsibility than he can bear. 
At the last moment, driven to bay, he recovers a perfect manhood 
and dies a hero. 

Of the female characters Andromache and Helen are most 
prominent. Andromache is the model of everything that a wife 
and woman should be, and is one of the most beautiful characters 
in all literature. Helen, though the occasion of so much woe to 
the Trojans and carped at by some of the family of Priam, was 
always treated tenderly by Hector and is generally spoken of by 
all persons without disrespect. With "beauty such as never 
woman wore," and with the infirmity of purpose which chequered 
her career, she unites not only grace and kindliness but a deep 
humility and a peculiar self-condemnation which is akin to 
Christian repentance. 

Homer's Style. Matthew Arnold sums up thus the four main 
characteristics of Homer: "When I say that he is eminently 
rapid : that he is eminently plain and direct both in the evolution 
of his thought and in the expression of it — that is, both in his syn- 
tax and in his words ; that he is eminently plain and direct in the 
substance of his thoughts — that is, in his matter and ideas ; and, 
finally, that he is eminently noble — I probably seem to be saying 
what is too general to be of much service to anybody." 

The Iliad is written in hexameter verse, a verse made up of 
twelve standard units. Five of these units may be broken into 
halves at will, with a short syllable assigned to each half ; so that 
the syllables of the verse may vary between twelve and seventeen. 



INTRODUCTION 9 

The distinction between long and short syllables is thus the key- 
to the extraordinary elasticity of the system. There are various 
subtle diversities of law, all tending to enlarge the poetic free- 
dom. Homer's verse is adapted to his meaning with a fitness 
equaled by no other poet. For example, when he has to describe 
the rapid motion of flying chariots, he increases the rapid — that 
is, the short — syllables of each line to eight or even ten, and the 
verse seems to gallop. One of Homer's most noticeable qualities 
is his constant use of epithets and the exclusive application of 
certain epithets to certain characters. Elaborate similes are also 
frequently used. The story is always told by action and speech, 
not by descriptions. 

Homeric Religion. The deities of the Iliad are colossal 
men and women, stronger and fairer than mortals, able to work 
wonders and to take any form they please, but not all-powerful 
or all-wise, and often immoral. They dwell on the heights of 
Mount Olympus and are called the Olympian gods. 

The features of the Olympian system to be noticed especially 
are the strong and highly dramatic conception of many of the 
personages ; their sympathy with and interest in the action of 
the poem ; their character of magnified humanity on a grand 
scale, and the fact that they are treated by the poet with a lack of 
reverent feeling which would indicate an advanced and decadent 
civilization. Zeus or Jupiter is the King of Heaven, and exhibits 
perhaps more than any of the other immortals the mixed human 
and divine character. He is represented as the upholder of the 
order and the whole frame of things ; also as the civil governor 
of the skies. In spite of these lofty responsibilities he is jovial at 
times and revels in intrigues. 

After Zeus the most interesting of the immortals is his daugh- 
ter, Athene (Minerva). She personifies reason and is a perfectly 
dignified figure throughout. She is the goddess of conduct, of 
war, of industrial production, and of polity. With Apollo she is 
associated as enjoying superior and distinctive honor. Apollo 
has a special office as the minister of death. He also has the gift 
of unsealing the future. 



10 introduction 

The Hera (Juno) of Homer is less intellectual, less complex, 
less sublime, but more human than Athene. As the wife of Zeus 
she enjoys predominance in Olympus. Hera is eminently femi- 
nine in character, but her femininity is not of a lofty type. She 
is jealous and intriguing. 

Besides these leading gods and goddesses there are Ares (Mars), 
the god of war in its more brutal manifestations ; Aphrodite, the 
goddess of beauty and love ; Thetis, the mother of Achilles, a sea 
goddess who in Homer has the general character of mediator ; and 
Iris, the envoy of Zeus. Hermes is also a messenger and guide. 
Hephaestus is the god of metal work ; Poseidon, a sea god. 
There are other gods and demi-gods, but space does not admit of 
describing any but the most important.* 

Homeric Morals. The moral standards of Homer's time are 
infinitely superior to those of historic Greece. This is most 
marked in the domestic relations and in the respect accorded to 
woman. In Homer she is the honored companion of man, not 
the inferior creature of historic times. 

The Homeric Greeks revered natural law profoundly, while 
conventional law hardly yet existed. There was a deep sense of 
the dignity of man and a total absence of the extreme forms of 
wickedness with which later ages were familiar. Duty between 
man and man, charity, hospitality, justice, and piety to the gods 
are all required by Homeric ethics. 

The Homeric Age. The explorations of Dr. Schliemann and 
other archaeologists and the researches of modern scholarship 
have put us in possession of information of incalculable value in 
the study of Homer. It must be remembered that, in the words 



* As Pope commonly uses the Latin names of the gods, which modern 
scholars have very generally abandoned, the following list will be useful. 
Greek Latin Greek Latin 

Aphrodite Venus Hephaestus Vulcan 

Ares Mars Hermes Mercury 

Artemis Diana Hera Juno 

Cronus Saturn Pallas-Athene Minerva 

Dionysus Bacchus . Phoebus-A polio Apollo 

Hades Pluto Poseidon Neptune 

Zeus Jupiter, Jove 



INTRODUCTION 11 

of Mr. Gladstone, " The poems of Homer do not constitute 
merely a great item of the splendid literature of Greece ; but they 
have a separate portion to which none other can approach. 
They and the manners they describe constitute a world of their 
own, and are severed by a sea of time whose breadth has not been 
certainly measured from the firmly set continent of recorded tra- 
dition and continuous fact. In this sea they lie as a great island ; 
and in this island we find not merely details of events, but a 
scheme of human life and character, complete in all its parts. 
We are introduced to man in every relation of which he is 
capable ; in every one of his arts, devices, institutions." The 
Greeks of the Iliad were the Achaeans whose main seat was 
Mycenae, the place in which Schliemann's excavations have been 
so fruitful. The Achaeans were a pure Greek race who had come 
from the north and settled in Greece at some remote period. We 
know, however, that in the twelfth century b. c. they had 
attained to great wealth and had produced a vigorous and beau- 
tiful school of art. They were great builders and much of their 
work is still, after more than three thousand 5 r ears, a marvel for 
boldness of conception and solidity of construction. Their rule 
must have lasted for several centuries, but at length it fell, about 
1000 b. c, before the invading Dorians, a rude tribe of Greek 
mountaineers, who pressed southward from the hills about 
Thessaly. 

Dr. Leaf, a distinguished Homeric scholar, has pointed out that 
the Achaeans are not to be regarded as a young and primitive 
people. They were the offspring of an advanced civilization, the 
growth of centuries, and of a civilization which was approaching 
its decline and fall. It was even in some respects more advanced 
than that later splendid civilization which arose in Greece from 
the ruins left by the Dorian invaders. 

Historical Basis of the Poem. Recent discoveries have 
tended to confirm the belief that there is some historic reality 
behind the tale of Troy. Two things are apparent : First, the 
Achaeans were sufficiently powerful to collect a great armament 
and transport it across the seas for a distant war, for from 



12 INTRODUCTION 

Egyptian sources we find that the Achaeans invaded Egypt about 
1500 b. c. If they could invade Egypt, there is no reason why 
they could not have invaded the Troad. Second, at the very point 
where tradition placed the city of Troy there actually was a city 
of unknown antiquity and of considerable power. Beyond these 
two facts the story of the Iliad must be regarded as fiction. 

It should be noticed that the Trojans are described in the 
Iliad as a Greek people with much the same religious and civil 
institutions, customs, dress, arms, etc., as the Achaeans. As a 
matter of fact, Troy, as revealed by the excavation at Hissarlik, 
had a culture of its own, but it was entirely different from, and 
inferior to, that of Mycenae. The Trojan War, if there was a 
Trojan War, was a conflict between Europeans and Asiatics. 
The description of it in the Iliad is a poetic idealization of an 
event which at most can have been known but by distant 
tradition. 

Homeric Dress. The Homeric hero in times of peace wore 
a tunic of fine linen and a thick, square mantle of red or purple 
wool fastened at the shoulder by a brooch, very much like our 
safety-pin. The Homeric lady wore a sort of tunic of fine 
linen girdled at the waist and with elaborate flounces running 
about the skirt. In a recent work on Mycenaean discoveries the 
full dress of a lady of Mycenae is described minutely from the 
data supplied by articles found during the excavations. This 
must nearly coincide with the Homeric dress : " Silks and satins 
she has none, but soft woolen of sea-purple stain, and glistering 
linen which even without embroidery might shine like a star in 
that radiant atmosphere. Her robes, to be sure, are in good part 
the poet's gift, but her jewels we have handled. ' Fairly smoth- 
ered in golden jewelry,' as Schliemann found her, she is quite in 
keeping with her golden city. The diadem of gold is on her 
brow, golden fillets and pins of exquisite technique shining out of 
her dark hair, golden bands about her throat, and golden neck- 
laces falling upon her bosom ; gold bracelets upon her arms, 
gold rings chased with inimitable art upon her fingers, and finally 
her very robes agleam with gold. Thus she stands forth a golden 



INTRODUCTION 13 

lady, if we may borrow Homer's epithet for Aprodite — an 
epithet chosen, we may believe, not only for her beauty's sake, 
but for the radiant splendor of her apparel/' 

Arms and Armor. The hero was armed with a huge shield 
of ox hide bound with metal, a helmet with a plume, and greaves 
or gaiters of leather or soft tin, not so much for protection against 
the foe as from the thumping of the great shield against the 
legs. A long spear and a sword hanging from a golden baldric 
completed the armor, although a cuirass or breastplate may 
have been worn. The hero besides these equipments had a two- 
horsed chariot, used not to fight from, but to transport him from 
one part of the battlefield to another. 



ALEXANDER POPE 

Alexander Pope was born in London, in the year 1688. His 
parents were Catholics, and the poet's attachment to their creed 
prevented him from seeking any public office or employment. 
His father died in 1717, and Pope soon afterwards retired to a 
house at Twickenham, where he spent his leisure in cultivating 
and adorning his little estate. Here, at the height of his literary 
renown, he was visited by the most famous wits of the day. He 
died in 1744. 

Naturally irritable, Pope's feelings were intensified by the 
wretched state of his health ; he was deformed from his birth, 
and his keenly sensitive temperament, his jealousy and vanity, 
often combined to make life a burden to him. He was not, how- 
ever, incapable of generously appreciating the work of others in 
cases where nothing had occurred to kindle his resentment. 

The saying that a poet is born, not made, is illustrated by the 
life of Pope. From a very early age the bent of his genius be- 
trayed itself; he "lisped in numbers, for the numbers came." 
From the age of twelve he educated himself, and, though not a 
profound scholar, was well read in the Latin poets. Some 
pastoral poems and translations were written as early as 1705, 
The Rape of the Lock in 1714. From 1715 to 1726 Pope was 



14 INTRODUCTION 

occupied with his translations of the Iliad and Odyssey — a labor 
which brought him in the huge sum of $40,000. 

In 1728-29 appeared the Dunciad, in which Pope held up 
to ridicule all pretenders to the name of poet, as well as all who 
had had the misfortune to arouse his malice. 

Between 1731 and 1739 he published a series of poetical essays, 
of which the Essay on Man is the most famous, and in 1737 a 
book of literary correspondence. The fourth book of the 
Dunciad, and a general revision of his writings, were his last 
literary efforts. 

Alexander Pope was the greatest figure in the so-called Augus- 
tan age of English Literature. He is our greatest master of 
didactic poetry, not so much because of the worth of his thoughts 
as because of the masterly form in which they are put. The 
Essay on Man, though its philosophy is poor and not his own, 
is crowded with lines that have passed into daily use. The 
Essay on Criticism is equally full of critical precepts put with 
exquisite skill. The Satires and Epistles set virtue and wit over 
against vice and dullness, and they illustrate both by types of 
character, in the drawing of which Pope is without a rival in 
our literature. The Rape of the Lock is an exquisite masterpiece 
of wit and dainty playfulness. 

Pope was the second, as Dryden was the first, of the great 
English poets who thought that excellence of poetry mainly 
depended on beauty of form. They did not inherit, and did not 
appreciate, the strong and vivid imagination, and deep and 
passionate feeling, which breathes in the lines of Spenser, of 
Shakespeare, and Milton. They thought that what made the 
poet was not the possession of high and beautiful thoughts, but 
the power of clothing everyday thoughts in the rich attire of 
polished and elaborate language. They were both imbued with a 
spirit of pseudo-classicism derived from France. Of the poetic 
form which he chose, Pope was a master ; perhaps no greater 
master of verse has ever lived. Dr. Johnson said of him that " a 
thousand years may elapse before there shall appear another man 
with a power of versification equal to that of Pope." He per- 



INTRODUCTION 15 

fected an English meter— the heroic couplet— and used it for 
nearly all of his works. Whether Pope could have attained to 
equal mastery over other meters seems an idle question ; for 
none could have equally suited the peculiarity of his genius. He 
once observed that one of the great conditions of writing well is 
" to know thoroughly what one writes about." The clear con- 
ception of a thought was in each case his first step ; next came 
the indefatigable labor of condensing and compressing it into the 
form in which its expression, most finished in form, is at the 
same time most convenient for the memory. Pope's verse has 
never a syllable, hardly ever a line too much : it is a constant 
succession of concise epigram and brilliant antithesis. On the 
other hand, the very perfection and smoothness of the workman- 
ship palls on one after a time. The regularity of the cadence 
resembles the inarching past of column after column of perfectly 
drilled troops ; but after this is said it would be difficult to point 
out any other fault in Pope's versification. 

Pope's Meter. As the heroic couplet is used in Pope's Homer, 
it is necessary to say something of its main characteristics. 
Homer wrote the Iliad in what is called hexameter ve,rse, 
which some poets (cf. Longfellow in his Evangeline) have 
tried to reproduce in English. 

| This is the | forest pri | meval, but | where are the | hearts that 

be | neath it | 
| Leaped like the | roe when he | hears in the | woodland the | 

voice of the | huntsman? | 

But the English language does not readily adapt itself to this 
meter, which can never carry in English the dignity it possesses 
in the original Greek ; so Pope was well-advised in preferring 
for his version the heroic couplet. Dryden had already used 
it for his translation of Vergil's JEneid, but his versification, 
though full of vigor, was rough and unequal. It was Pope who 
brought the heroic couplet to perfection, showing how it could 
combine smoothness with force, and was equally adapted for 



16 INTRODUCTION 

rapid narrative, for declamation, and for epigram. Nowhere, 
perhaps, are its qualities more perfectly exhibited than in the 
translation of the speeches in the Iliad. 

The danger of his meter is an excess of smoothness; and, in the 
hands of Pope's imitators, who lacked his poetic power, its even 
flow became wearisome and its antithesis forced and mechanical. 
So it was set aside by Scott and Campbell in favor of the 
shorter four-foot couplet, which is certainly an instrument of 
much less power. In our own day there has been a sort of 
revival of the heroic couplet by William Morris; but, as he disre- 
gards some of the chief principles which guided Pope — the 
division into couplets complete in themselves, and the caesura 
or pause in the time— the effect of their verse is very different. 
It may rather be described as rhyming blank verse. 

The following are the main characteristics of the heroic couplet 
as written by Pope. 

The lines rhyme in pairs, and each couplet makes a complete 
sense by itself. There is generally a full stop or a semicolon at 
the end of the second line of the couplet, but occasionally only a 
comma. 

Each line contains five feet. The feet are either— 

(a) iambus; i. e. y a short (or unaccented) syllable, folio vved 

by a long (or accented) syllable.; e. g., beneath. 

(b) spondee; i. e., two long syllables. 

(c) trochee; i. e., a long syllable, followed by a short one; 

e. g. y goddess. The trochee is used only in the first foot 
of a line, and then only with a view to special emphasis. 

(d) pyrrhic; i.e., two short syllables. This is used only in 

the third and fourth places, and then but sparingly. 

The last foot of each line must always be an iambus. The 
fourth foot must not be a spondee if it is divided between two 
words; e. g., " To all | Greece dire | ful spring " is an impossible 
ending for a line. 

Either the second or third foot of each line must be divided 
between two words, one of which must not be a monosyllable. 
An exception to this rule is allowed when there is a comma at 



INTKODUCTION 17 

the end of the second foot. (Pope expressed this differently. 
He says, "I have avoided the caesura/' where by ''caesura" he 
means ending the second foot with the end of a word.) 
It is usual to mark the scansion thus: 

Achill | es' wrath, | to Greece | the dire | f ul spring | 
Of woes | unnum | bered, heaven | ly god | dess, sing. | 

Pope's Homer. — Matthew Arnold's list of the characteristics of 
Homer has been given above; he is eminently rapid, eminently 
plain and direct in matter and manner, and eminently noble. A 
translator, then, should possess all these qualities, in addition to 
a scholarly knowledge of Greek and an insight into the real 
Homeric spirit. Pope, strange to say, had almost no knowledge 
of Greek. His version was made almost entirely from previous 
English, French, and Latin translations. Bentley, the great 
Greek scholar of Pope's day, when asked for his opinion of the 
translation, replied: " A pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must 
not call it Homer." This is the unanimous verdict of scholars. 
How far Pope strays at times from the original ; how he takes 
unwarrantable liberties with the text; how he inserts epigrams 
and antitheses where none are indicated in the original, and how 
he constantly adds rhetorical adornments, the literal prose trans- 
lations given freely in the notes will show. Pope and his con- 
temporaries held that poetry should have a language of its own; 
thus we find him translating Homer's horse into "steed" or 
"courser," wine into "purple tide," maiden into "the fair" — 
his most famous euphemism being in the passage where Ajax is 
compared to an ass, translated "The slow beast with heavy 
strength endued." All this is, of course, far from Homer's noble 
simplicity. In the notes, however, such features will be pointed 
out in connection with the text itself. Pope's version certainly is 
not instinct with the Homeric simplicity and directness, but it 
has some of Homer's fire, much of Homer's interest, and at times, 
especially in the speeches, some of Homer's nobility. For these 
reasons it is still read and admired, 



CRITICAL OPINIONS 

Matthew Arnold, the most distinguished English critic of this 
century, in his lectures On Translating Homer, says the fol- 
lowing of Pope's translation: "One feels that Homer's thought 
has passed through a literary and rhetorical crucible and come 
out highly intellectualized; come out in a form which strongly 
impresses us, indeed, but which no longer impresses us in the 
same way as when it was uttered by Homer. . . A literary and in- 
tellectualized language is, however, in its own way well suited to 
grand matters; and Pope, with a language of this kind and his 
own admirable talent, comes off well enough as long as he has 
passion, or oratory, or a great crisis to deal with. Even here, as I 
have been pointing out, he does not render Homer; but he and 
his style are in themselves strong. It is when he comes to level 
passages, passages of narrative or description, that he and his 
style are sorely tried and prove themselves weak. . . It is for 
passages of this sort, which, after all, form the bulk of a narra- 
tive poem, that Pope's style is so bad. In elevated passages he 
is powerful, as Homer is powerful, though not in the same way; 
but in plain narrative, where Homer is still powerful and delight- 
ful, Pope, by the inherent fault of his style, is ineffective and 
out of taste. Wordsworth says somewhere that, wherever Vergil 
seems to have composed 'with his eye on the object/ Dryden 
fails to render him. Homer invariably composes ' with his eye 
on the object,' whether the object be a moral or a material one; 
Pope composes with his eye on his style, into which he translates 
his object, whatever it is. That, therefore, which Homer conveys 
to us immediately, Pope conveys to us through a medium. He 
aims at turning Homer's sentiments pointedly and rhetorically; at 
investing Homer's description w 7 ith ornament and dignity." 

Mr. Leslie Stephen's Life of Pope contains some admirable crit- 
18 



CRITICAL OPINIONS 19 

ical estimates of his works. In regard to the translation of the 
Iliad he says: "Pope was really a wit of the days of Queen 
Anne, and saw only that aspect of Homer which was visible to 
his kind. The poetic mood was not to him a fine frenzy — 
for good sense must condemn all frenzy — but a deliberate 
elevation of the bard by high-heeled shoes and a full-bot- 
tomed wig. Seas and mountains, being invisible from But- 
ton's, could only be described by worn phrases from the Latin 
grammar. Even his narrative must be full of epigrams to avoid 
the cne deadly sin of dullness, and his language must be decor- 
ous, even at the price of being sometimes emasculated. But 
accept these conditions, and much still remains. After all, a wit 
was still a human being, and much more nearly related to us than 
an ancient Greek. Pope's style, w r hen he is at his best, has the 
merit of being thoroughly alive; there are no dead masses of use- 
less verbiage; every excresence has been carefully pruned away; 
slovenly paraphrases and indistinct slurrings over of the meaning 
have disappeared. He corrected carefully arid scrupulously, as 
his own statement implies, not with a view of transferring as 
large a portion as possible of his author's meaning to his own 
verses, but in order to make the versification as smooth and the 
sense as transparent as possible. We have the pleasure which we 
receive from really polished oratory; every point is made to tell; 
if the emphasis is too often pointed by some showy antithesis, we 
are at least never uncertain as to the meaning; and if the versifi- 
cation is often monotonous, it is articulate and easily caught at 
first sight. These are the essential merits of good declamation, 
and it is in the true declamatory passages that Pope is at his best. 
The speeches of his heroes are often admirable, full of spirit, 
well balanced, and skillfully arranged pieces of rhetoric — not a 
mere inorganic series of observations. . . Pope, as it seems to 
me, rises to a level of sustained eloquence when he has to act as 
interpreter for the direct expression of broad, magnanimous sen- 
timent. Classical critics may explain by what shades of feeling 
the aristocratic grandeur of soul of an English noble differed 
from the analogous quality in heroic Greece, and find the differ- 



20 CRITICAL OPINIONS 

ence reflected in the ' grand style ■ of Pope as compared with that 
of Homer. But Pope could at least assume with admirable 
readiness the lofty air of superiority to personal fears, and patri- 
otic devotion to a great cause, which is common to the type in 
every age. His tendency to didactic platitudes is at least out of 
place in such cases, and his dread of vulgarity and quaintness, 
with his genuine feeling for breadth of effect, frequently enables 
him to be really dignified and impressive." 

The Globe Edition of Pope's works, edited by Mr. A. W. 
Ward, has a valuable introduction in which Pope's translation is 
spoken of thus : " Pope's fame as a translator was ranked by Addi- 
son on a level with that of Diyden, but even Addison can in this 
case be hardly admitted as a competent judge. If the art of 
translation consists not in carrying into an author the character- 
istics of the translator and his age, but in reproducing at all events 
the leading characteristics of that author himself, Pope's Homer 
must be accounted a failure. It is a noble achievement as an 
English poem : but it resembles those efforts in landscape-garden- 
ing which require to be surveyed from particular points of view, 
unless their artificiality is to betray itself at once. Pope has not 
caught — he could not catch — the manner of Homer. Had he 
succeeded in this, he might be forgiven a thousand inaccuracies 
more glaring than those which he has actually committed. A 
scholar's hand might make Dryden's Juvenal Juvenal ; but to be 
made Homer, Pope's translations need not to be revised, but 
recast. This is not a mere question of meter. Garrick wore a 
wig in Macbeth, but he moved the passions of his audience by the 
spirit of Shakespeare. Pope had-not caught that Homeric spirit 
which has communicated itself to at least one later translator, even 
when imprisoned by his own willfulness in the machinery of a 
modern stanza." 

Lastly, James Russell Lowell gives an estimate of Pope: " His 
more ambitious works may be defined as careless thinking carefully 
versified. Lessing was one of the first to see this, and accordingly 
he tells us that ' his great, I will not say greatest, merit lay in 
what we call the mechanic of poetry,' Lessing, with his usual 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 21 

insight, parenthetically qualifies his statement ; for where Pope, 
as in The Bape of the Lock, found a subject exactly level with 
his genius, he was able to make what, taken for all in all, is the 
most perfect poem in the language. . . A great deal must be 
allowed to Pope for the age in which he lived, and not a little, I 
think, for the influence of Swift. In his own province he still 
stands unapproachably alone. If to be the greatest satirist of 
individual men, rather than of human nature, if to be the highest 
expression which the life of the court and the ballroom has ever 
found in verse, if to have added more phrases to our language 
than any other but Shakespeare, if to have charmed four genera- 
tions make a man a great poet — then he is one. He was the chief 
founder of an artificial style of writing, which in his hands was 
living and powerful, because he used it to express artificial modes 
of thinking and an artificial state of society. Measured by any 
high standard of imagination, he will be found wanting ; tried by 
any test of wit, he is unrivaled." 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF LITERARY EVENTS 
DURING POPE'S LIFE. 



1667. 


Swift born. 


1672. 


Steele born. 


1672. 


Addison born. 


1674. 


Milton died. 


1688. 


Gay born. 


1688. 


Pope born. 


1688. 


Bunyan died. 


1690. 


Locke's Essay Concerning 




standing. 


1694. 


Voltaire born. 


1699. 


Racine died. 


1700. 


Thomson born. 


1700. 


Dryden died. 



Human Under- 



The Spectator. 



22 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

1700. Fenelon's Telemaque. 

1703. John Wesley born. 

1704. Locke died. 

1704. Addison's Campaign. 

1704. Swift's Tale of a Tub and Battle of the 

Boohs. 
1707. Fielding born. 
1709. Johnson born. 

1709. Pope's Pastorals. 
1709 ) 

to \ The Tatler. 
1711. ) 

1710. Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge. 

1711. Pope's Essay on Criticism. 
1711/ 
1712, 
and 
1714.^ 

1711. Hume born. 

1712. Pope's Rape of the Lock. 

1712. Rousseau born. 

1713. Addison's Cato. 

1713. Sterne born. 

1714. Mandeville's Fable of the Bees. 

1715. Gay's Trivia. 
1715 ) 

to >• Pope's Translation of Homers Iliad. 

1720. ) 
1715. Wycherley died. 

1718. Prior's Poems on Several Occasions (folio). 

Y Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (first part). 

1719. Addison died. 

1721. Prior died. 
1721. Smollett born. 



1719, 
1720 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 23 

1723 ) 

to [-Pope's Translation of Homers Odyssey. 
1725. ) 

1724. Swift's Drapier's Letters. 
1724. Kant born. 

1724. Klopstock born. 
1725 ) 

to >• Thomson's Seasons. 

1730. ) 

1725. Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd. 

1725. Young's Universal Passion. 

1726. Swift's Gulliver's Travels. 

1727. Gay's Fables. 

1728. Pope's Dunciad. 
1728. Gay's Beggar's Opera. 

1728. Goldsmith born. 

1729. Law's Serious Call. 
1729. Burke born. 

1729. Lessing born. 
1729. Steele died. 

1731. Defoe died. 

1731. Cowper born. 
1732 ) 

to > Pope's Moral Essays. 
1735. ) 

1732 j 

to >• Pope's Essay on Man. 

1734. ) 

1732. Gay died. 

1733 ) 

to >• Pope's Imitations of Horace. 
1737. ) 

1735. Pope's Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. . 

1736. Butler's Analogy of Religion. 

1737. Gibbon born. 

1738. Hume's Treatise of Human Nature. 



24 AUTHORITIES 

1740. Cibber's Apology for his Life. 

1740. Richardson's Pamela. 

1742. Fielding's Joseph Andrews. 

1742. Pope's Dunciad (fourth book added). 

1742. Young's Night Thoughts. 

1743. Blair's Grave. 

1744. Akenside's Pleasures of Imagination. 

1744. Pope died. 

1745. Swift died. 

] 748. Thomson died. 

1748. Hume's Inquiry Concerning Human Under- 
standing. 

1748. Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe. 

1748. Smollett's Roderick Random. 

1749. Goethe born. 

1749. Fielding's Tom Jones. 



AUTHORITIES 

Lang, Leaf, and Myer's Prose 

Translation of the Iliad, . The Macmillan Company. 

Leaf's Companion to the Iliad, " " " 

Lang's Homer and the Epic, Longmans, Green, & Co. 

Tsountsis' The Mycencean Age, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 

Berens' Mythology, . . . Maynard, Merrill, & Co. 

Gayley's Classic Myths in 

English Literature, . . Ginn & Company. 

Jebb's Introduction to Homer, " " 

Jebb's Primer of Greek Lit- 
erature, : American Book Company, 

Gladstone's Homer Primer, . " " " 



AUTHORITIES 25 

Matthew Arnold's Lectures 

On Translating Homer, . The Macmillan Company. 

Schreiber's Classical Dic- 
tionary, " " " 

Seyfert's Classical Dictionary -, " " " 

Smith's Classical Dictionary, " " " 

Schuchhardt's Schliemann's 
Excavations, translated by 
Miss Sellers, ..... " " " 

Mahaffy's Social Life in 

Greece, " " " 

Warr's The Greek Epic, . . Young. 

Leslie Stephen's Life of Dope, The Macmillan Company. 

Johnson's Life of Dope, . . " " " 

Globe Edition of Pope's 
Works, 

Dennis' The Age of Dope, . . " " " 

Gosse's History of Eight- 
eenth Century Literature, . " " " 

Lowell's My Study Windows, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. 

Besides the above any standard works on Greek 
history and art will be helpful. 




THE GODS IN COUNCIL 



THE ILIAD 



BOOK I 

THE ARGUMENT 

THE CONTENTION OF ACHILLES AND AGAMEMNON 

In the war of Troy, the Greeks having sacked some of the 
neighboring towns, and taken from thence two beautiful captives, 
Chryseis and Brisei's, allotted the first to Agamemnon, and the last 
to Achilles. Chryses, the father of Chryseis, and priest of 
Apollo, comes to the Grecian camp to ransom her ; with which 
the action of the poem opens in the tenth year of the siege. The 
priest being refused and insolently dismissed by Agamemnon, 
entreats for vengeance from his god, who inflicts a pestilence on 
the Greeks. Achilles calls a council, and encourages Chalcas to 
declare the cause of it, who attributes it to the refusal of Chryseis. 
The king being obliged to send back his captive, enters into a 



28 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

furious contest with Achilles, which Nestor pacifies ; however, as 
lie had the absolute command of the army, he seizes on Brise'is in 
revenge. Achilles in discontent withdraws himself and his forces 
from the rest of the Greeks ; and complaining to Thetis, she sup- 
plicates Jupiter to render them sensible of the wrong done to her 
son, by giving victory to the Trojans. Jupiter granting her suit, 
incenses Juno, between whom the debate runs high, till they are 
reconciled by the address of Vulcan. 

The time of two-and-twenty days is taken up in this book ; nine 
during the plague, one in the council and quarrel of the Princes, 
and twelve for Jupiter's stay with the Ethiopians, at whose 
return Thetis prefers her petition. The scene lies in the Grecian 
camp, then changes to Chrysa, and lastly to Olympus. 

Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring 

Of woes unnumbered, heavenly goddess, sing! 

That wrath which hurl'd to Pluto's gloomy reign 

The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain: 

Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore, 5 

Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore: 

Since great Achilles and Atrides strove, 

Such was the sovereign doom, and such the will of Jove! 

Declare, Muse! in what ill-fated hour 
Sprung the fierce strife, from what offended power? 10 
Latona's son a dire contagion spread, 
And heap'd the camp with mountains of the dead; 

1. Achilles' wrath. The author strikes the keynote of the Iliad in the 
first two words. It is not so much a history of the war against Ilium or Troy 
as the story of the anger of Achilles at the loss of Briseis, his sullen holding 
aloof from the war, the consequent misfortunes of the Greeks, and the hero's 
re-appearance in arms to avenge his friend Patroclus. 

2. heav'nly goddess, the muse of epic poetry. This is the first instance of 
the invocation of the muse so common in all poetry since. 

3. Pluto, the God of the under world, 
reign, kingdom. 

7. Atrides, the son of Atreus, Agamemnon. These patronymics ending in 
ides are common throughout Homer. Pelides, eon of Peleus, is Achilles ; 
Tydides, son of Tydeus, is Diomed. 

11. Latona's son, Apollo. 

12. heaped the camp with mountains of the dead, literally, "the folk 
began to perish." Note the virile simplicity of Homer's phraseology as com- 
pared with the conventionality of Pope's. 



BOOK I 29 

The king of men his reverend priest defied, 
And for the king's offense the people died. 

For Chryses sought with costly gifts to gain 15 

His captive daughter from the victor's chain. 
Suppliant the venerable father stands; 
Apollo's awful ensigns grace his hands: 
By these he begs; and, lowly bending down, 
Extends the scepter and the laurel crown. 20 

He sued to all, but chief implored for grace 
The brother-kings of Atreus' royal race: 

" Ye kings and warriors! may your vows be crown'd, 
And Troy's proud walls lie level with the ground; 
May Jove restore you, when your toils are o'er, 25 

Safe to the pleasures of your native shore. 
But oh! relieve a wretched parent's pain, 
And give Chryseis to these arms again; 
If mercy fail, yet let my presents move, 
And dread avenging Phoebus, son of Jove." 30 

The Greeks in shouts their joint assent declare, 
The priest to rev'rence and release the fair. 
*Not so Atrides: he, with kingly pride, 
Eepuls'd the sacred sire, and thus replied: 

" Hence on thy life, and fly these hostile plains, 35 
Nor ask, presumptuous, what the king detains; 
Hence, with thy laurel crown and golden rod, 
Nor trust too far those ensigns of thy god. 



13. king of men, Agamemnon. 

18. awful ensigns = signs of awe. The priest's fillet of wool fastened 
to the end of the staff held in the hands showed that Cryses came as a sup- 
pliant. This fillet was worn about the brow as a badge of the priest's sacred 
office. 

22. brother-kings, Agamemnon and Menelaus. 

23. vows be crown'd. The Greek leaders had besieged Troy for over nine 
years, with the object of restoring Helen (who had been carried off by Paris, 
son of Priam) to tier former husband, Menelaus. 

33. Atrides, son of Atreus ; i, e. Agamemnon, 



30 THE ILIAD OF HOMEE 

Mine is thy daughter, priest, and shall remain; 

And prayers, and tears, and bribes, shall plead in vain; 

Till time shall rifle every youthful grace, 41 

And age dismiss her from my cold embrace; 

In daily labors of the loom employed, 

Or doomed to deck the bed she once enjoy'd. 

Hence then! to Argos shall the maid retire, 45 

Far from her native soil and weeping sire." 

The trembling priest along the shore returned, 
And in the anguish of a father mourned. 
Disconsolate, not daring to complain, 
Silent he wandered by the sounding main: , 50 

Till, safe at distance, to his god he prays, 
The god who darts around the world his rays: 

" Smintheus! sprung from fair Latona's line, 
Thou guardian power of Cilia the divine, 
Thou source of light! whom Tenedos adores, 55 

And whose bright presence gilds thy Chrysa's shores: 
If e'er with wreaths I hung thy sacred fane, 
Or fed the flames with fat of oxen slain; 
God of the silver bow! thy shafts employ, 
Avenge thy servant, and the Greeks destroy." 60 

Thus Chryses pray'd: the favoring power attends, 
And from Olympus' lofty .tops descends. 
Bent was his bow, the Grecian hearts to wound; 
Fierce, as he mov'd, his silver shafts resound. 

53. Smintheus, lord of the mice ; or the word may be derived from Sminthe, 
a town in the Troad. There has been much discussion as to the meaning of the 
name. A probable explanation is. that in eastern countries the mouse was 
often taken as a personification of disease and plague. Herodotus relates that 
the army of Sennacherib was destroyed not by a plague, but through the 
agency of an army of field-mice which gnawed the Assyrian bow-strings in the 
night. In 1 Samuel vi. 4, srolden mice are offered as a propitiation by the 
Philistines when visited by a plague. 

57. fane=temple. 

59. Sudden deaths were attributed to the noiseless arrows of Apollo. 

63-70. A very beautiful passage, which loses much of its force in translation. 
Thus lines 65, 66, fail to give the meaning of Homer, that Apollo "descended 



BOOK I 31 

Breathing revenge, a sudden night he spread, 65 

And gloomy darkness rolPd around his head. 

The fleet in view, he twanged his deadly bow, 

And hissing fly the feathered fates below. 

On mules and dogs th/ infection first began; 

And last the vengeful arrows fix'd in man. 70 

For nine long nights through all the dusky air 

The pyres thick-flaming shot a dismal glare. 

But ere the tenth revolving day was run, 

Inspired by Juno, Thetis' god-like son 

Convened to council all the Grecian train; 75 

For much the goddess mourned her heroes slain. 

Tlr* assembly seated, rising o'er the rest, 

Achilles thus the king of men addressed: 

" Why leave we not the fatal Trojan shore, 
And measure back the seas we crossed before? 80 

The plague destroying whom the sword would spare, 
'Tis time to save the few remains of war. 
But let some prophet or some sacred sage 
Explore the cause of great Apollo's rage; 
Or learn the wasteful vengeance to remove 85 

By mystic dreams, for dreams descend from Jove. 
If broken vows this heavy curse have laid, 
Let altars smoke and hecatombs be paid. 



like to night " in stealthily dealing death among the Greeks. Literally 
" Apollo heard him, and came down from the peaks of Olympus wroth at heart, 
bearing on his shoulders his bow and curved quiver, and the arrows clanged 
upon his shoulders in his wrath, as the god moved ; and he descended like to 
night," etc. 

72. pyres, funeral piles, on which the bodies of the dead were burned. 

74. Thetis' godlike son, Achilles. 

76. Paris, son of Priam, had angered Jnno and Minerva by giving the golden 
apple to Venus, as the fairest of the goddesses, and consequently they became 
bitter enemies of the Trojans. 

82. remains of war= warriors whom the war has hitherto spared. 

83. Probably Achilles has a shrewd suspicion as to the cause of Apollo's 
wrath. 

88. hecatombs, properly a sacrifice of a hundred oxen, but often used in a 
less strict sense, 



32 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

So heav'n atoned shall dying Greece restore, 

And Phoebus dart his burning shafts no more." 90 

He said, and sat: when Chalcas thus replied, 
Chalcas the wise, the Grecian priest and guide, 
That sacred seer, whose comprehensive view 
The past, the present, and the future knew: 
Uprising slow, the venerable sage 95 

Thus spoke the prudence and the fears of age: 

"BelovM of Jove, Achilles! wouldst thou know 
Why angry Phoebus bends his fatal bow? 
First give thy faith, and plight a prince's word 
Of sure protection, by thy pow'r and sword. 100 

For I must speak what wisdom would conceal, 
And truths invidious to the great reveal. 
Bold is the task, when subjects, grown too wise, 
Instruct a monarch where his error lies; 
For though we deem the short-liv'd fury past, 105 

'Tis sure, the mighty will revenge at last." 

To whom Pelides: " From thy inmost soul 
Speak what thou know'st, and speak without control. 
Ev'n by that god I swear, who rules the day, 
To whom thy hands the vows of Greece convey, 110 

And whose blest oracles thy lips declare: 
Long as Achilles breathes this vital air, 
No daring Greek, of all the numerous band, 
Against his priest shall lift an impious hand: 
Not ev'n the chief by whom our hosts are led, 115 

The king of kings, shall touch that sacred head." 



102. Calchas at once gives a proof that he knows the future, by predicting 
the anger of Agamemnon at his words. 

107. Pelides, Achilles, son of Peleus. 

109. that god . . . who rules the day, Apollo. 

115. This s-hows us the character of Achilles : haughty, confident in his own 
strength and powers, he anticipates and defies the opposition of even the king 
pf inen himself, 



BOOK I 33 

Encouraged thus, the blameless man replies: 
" Nor vows unpaid, nor slighted sacrifice, 
But he, our chief, provok'd the raging pest, 
Apollo's vengeance for his injured priest. 120 

Nor will the god's awaken'd fury cease, 
But plagues shall spread, and fun'ral fires increase, 
Till the great king, without a ransom paid, 
To her own Chrysa send the black-ey'd maid. 
Perhaps, with added sacrifice and pray'r, 125 

The priest may pardon, and the god may spare." 

The prophet spoke; when, with a gloomy frown, 
The monarch started from his shining throne; 
Black choler filFd his breast that boil'd with ire, 
And from his eyeballs flashed + he living fire. 130 

"Augur accursed! denouncing mischief still, 
Prophet of plagues, for every boding ill! 
Still must that tongue some wounding message 

bring, 
And still thy priestly pride provoke thy king? 
For this are Phoebus' oracles explored, 135 

To teach the Greeks to murmur at their lord? 
For this with falsehoods is my honor stain'd, 
Is heaven offended and a priest profaned, 
Because my prize, my beauteous maid, I hold, 
And heav'nly charms prefer to proffer'd gold? 140 

A maid, unmatched in manners as in face, 
Skilled in each art, and crown'd with every grace: 
Not half so dear were Clytsemnestra's charms, 
When first her blooming beauties blessed my arms. 

124. black-eyed, rather flashing-eyed, or bright-eyed. 

129. choler, anger. 

131. still, constantly. 

135. Phoebus, Apollo. 

143. Clytaemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. 



34 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Yet, if the gods demand her, let her sail; 145 

Our cares are only for the public weal: 

Let me be deemed the hateful cause of all, 

And suffer, rather than my people fall. 

The prize, the beauteous prize, I will resign, 

So dearly valued, and so justly mine. 150 

But since for common good I yield the fair, 

My private loss let grateful Greece repair; 

Nor unrewarded let your prince complain, 

That he alone has fought and bled in vain." 

" Insatiate king! " (Achilles thus replies) 155 

" Fond of the pow'r, but fonder of the prize! 
Wouldst thou the Greeks their lawful prey should yield, 
The due reward of many a well-fought field? 
The spoils of cities raz'd and warriors slain, 
We share with justice, as with toil we gain: 160 

But to resume whatever thy av'rice craves 
(That trick of tyrants) may be borne by slaves. 
Yet if our chief for plunder only fight, 
The spoils of Ilion shall thy loss requite, 
Whene'er, by Jove's decree, our conquering pow'rs 165 
Shall humble to the dust her lofty tow'rs." 

Then thus the king: " Shall I my prize resign 
With tame content, and thou possessed of thine? 
Great as thou art, and like a god in fight, 
Think not to rob me of a soldier's right. 170 

At thy demand shall I restore the maid? 
First let the just equivalent be paid; 
Such as a king might ask; and let it be 
A treasure worthy her and worthy me. 

145. Agamemnon gives way to the interest of his people, though with a very 
ill grace. 
163-163. This is not in the original. 



BOOK I 35 

Or grant me this, or with a monarch's claim 175 

This hand shall seize some other captive dame. 

The mighty Ajax shall his prize resign, 

Ulysses' spoils, or ev'n thy own, be mine. 

The man who suffers, loudly may complain; 

And rage he may, but he shall rage in vain. 180 

But this when time requires — it now remains 

We launch a bark to plow the wat'ry plains, 

And waft the sacrifice to Chrysa's shores, 

With chosen pilots and with laboring oars. 

Soon shall the fair the sable ship ascend, 185 

And some deputed prince the charge attend; 

This Greta's king or Ajax shall fulfill, 

Or wise Ulysses see perform'd our will; 

Or, if our royal pleasure shall ordain, 

Achilles' self conduct her o'er the main; 190 

Let fierce Achilles, dreadful in his rage, 

The god propitiate and the pest assuage." 

At this, Pelides, frowning stern, replied: 
" tyrant, arm'd with insolence and pride! 
Inglorious slave to int'rest, ever join'd 195 

With fraud, unworthy of a royal mind! 
What gen'rous Greek, obedient to thy word, 
Shall form an ambush or shall lift the sword? 
What cause have I to war at thy decree? 
The distant Trojans never injur' d me: 200 

To Phthia's realms no hostile troops they led; 
Safe in her vales my warlike coursers fed; 



187. Creta's king, Idomeneus. 

194. O tyrant, etc. The following passage has been much admired as 
an example of skilled invecthe, a variety of composition in which Pope 
excelled. 

201. Phthia. The most important city of Theesaly, the country over which 
Peleus, the father of Achilles, ruled. 



36 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Far hence remov'd, the hoarse-resounding main 

And walls of rocks secure my native reign, 

Whose fruitful soil luxuriant harvests grace, 205 

Eich in her fruits and in her martial race. 

Hither we sail'd, a voluntary throng, 

T' avenge a private, not a public wrong: 

What else to Troy th' assembled nations draws, 

But thine, ungrateful, and thy brother's cause? 210 

Is this the pay our blood and toils deserve, 

Disgraced and injured by the man we serve? 

And dar'st thou threat to snatch my prize away, 

Due to the deeds of many a dreadful day; 

A prize as small, tyrant! matched with thine, 215 

As thy own actions if compared to mine! 

Thine in each conquest is the wealthy prey, 

Though mine the sweat and danger of the day. 

Some trivial present to my ships I bear, 

Or barren praises pay the wounds of war. 220 

But know, proud monarch, I'm thy slave no more; 

My fleet shall waft me to Thessalia's shore. 

Left by Achilles on the Trojan plain, 

What spoils, what conquests, shall Atrides gain?" 

To this the king: " Fly, mighty warrior, fly! 225 

Thy aid we need not and thy threats defy. 
There want not chiefs in such a cause to fight, 
And Jove himself shall guard a monarch's right. 
Of all the kings (the gods' distinguish' d care) 
To pow'r superior none such hatred bear: 230 

Strife and debate thy restless soul employ, 
And wars and horrors are thy savage joy. 



223-224. Pope here strays widely from the original : " Nor do I intend to 
stay here dishonored, to drain riches and honor for you from others." 
228. Jove was the especial guardian of kings. 



BOOK I 37 

If thou hast strength, 'twas Heaven that strength be- 
stowed, 
For know, vain man! thy valor is from God. 
Haste, launch thy vessels, fly with speed away, 235 

Eule thy own realms with arbitrary sway: 
I heed thee not, but prize at equal rate 
Thy short-liv'd friendship and thy groundless hate. 
Go, threat thy earth-born Myrmidons; but here 
'Tis mine to threaten, prince, and thine to fear. 240 
Know, if the god the beauteous dame demand, 
My bark shall waft her to her native land; 
But then prepare, imperious prince! prepare, 
Fierce as thou art, to yield thy captive fair: 
Ev'n in thy tent Pll seize the blooming prize, 245 

Thy lov'd Briseis with the radiant eyes. 
Hence shalt thou prove my might, and curse the hour 
Thou stood'st a rival of imperial pow^r; 
And hence to all our host it shall be known 
That kings are subject to the gods alone." 250 

Achilles heard, with grief and rage oppressed 
His heart swelPd high and labored in his breast. 
Distracting thoughts by turns his bosom ruFd, 
Now fir'd by wrath, and now by reason cooPd: 
That prompts his hand to draw the deadly sword, 255 
Force through the Greeks, and pierce their haughty 
lord; 



233. Agamemnon means that Achilles, though the strongest man in the host, 
was not the bravest. 

239. The wide-ruling Agamemnon despises the scanty dominions of Achilles. 
The Myrmidons lived in Phthiotis, in Thessaly, and were said to have migrated 
from JEgina. 

241. Agamemnon is too proud to admit that he is influenced by Calchas 
and the Greeks. He attributes his loss of Chryseis to the direct demand of 
Apollo. 

255. That prompts. Wrath prompts him to draw the sword, reason 
whispers softly to control his anger. 



38 THE ILIAD OV HOMER 

This whispers soft, his vengeance to control, 

And calm the rising tempest of his soul. 

Just as in anguish of suspense he stay'd, 

While half unsheathed appeared the glittering blade, 260 

Minerva swift descended from above, 

Sent by the sister and the wife of Jove 

(For both the princes claimed her equal care); 

Behind she stood, and by the golden hair 

Achilles seized; to him alone confessed, 265 

A sable cloud conceaFd her from the rest. 

He sees, and sudden to the goddess cries, 

Known by the flames that sparkle from her eyes: 

" Descends Minerva in her guardian care, 
A heavenly witness of the wrongs I bear 270 

From Atreus' son? Then let those eyes that view 
The daring crime, behold the vengeance too." 

" Forbear! " (the progeny of Jove replies) 
" To calm thy fury I forsake the skies: 
Let great Achilles, to the gods resigned, 275 

To reason yield the empire o'er his mind. 
By awful Juno this command is giv'n; 
The king and you are both the care of heav'n. 
The force of keen reproaches let him feel, 
But sheath, obedient, thy revenging steel. 280 

For I pronounce (and trust a heav'nly pow'r) 
Thy injured honor has its fated hour, 
When the proud monarch shall thy arms implore, 
And bribe thy friendship with a boundless store. 



261. Minerva here represents the wiser part of Achilles' nature— his reason, 
as opposed to his wrath. . . 

263 Juno was especially the goddess of the Arrives, and Argos included 
Phthiotis in its territory. She was therefore unwilling to see a conflict between 
Agamemnon and Achilles. # 

279. Minerva does not urge Achilles to reproach the king ; she merely allows 
him to do so. 



40 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Then let revenge no longer bear the sway, 285 

Command thy passions, and the gods obey." 

To her Pelides: " With regardful ear, 
'Tis just, goddess! I thy dictates hear. 
Hard as it is, my vengeance I suppress: 
Those who revere the gods, the gods will bless." 290 
He said, observant of the blue-ey'd maid; 
Then in the sheath returned the shining blade. 
The goddess swift to high Olympus flies, 
And joins the sacred senate of the skies. 

Nor yet the rage his boiling breast forsook, 295 

Which thus redoubling on Atrides broke: 
" monster! mix'd of insolence and fear, 
Thou dog in forehead, but in heart a deer! 
When wert thou known in ambushed fights to dare, 
Or nobly face the horrid front of war? 300 

"Tis ours the chaL.ce of fighting fields to try; 
Thine to look on and bid the valiant die. 
So much 'tis safer through the camp to go, 
And rob a subject, than despoil a foe. 
Scourge of thy people, violent and base! 305 

Sent in Jove's anger on a slavish race, 
Who, lost to sense of gen'rous freedom past, 
Are tam'd to wrongs, or this had been thy last. 
Now by this sacred scepter hear me swear, 
Which never more shall leaves or blossoms bear, 310 
Which, severed from the trunk (as I from thee) 
On the bare mountains left its parent tree; 



293. The goddess . . . flies. Pope misses the force of the pluperfect 
tense. " She had already gone, 1 ' vanished, before Achilles could say more. 

298. dog. Except in the case of Ulysses' hound in the Odyssey, Homer 
invariably speaks contemptuously of dogs. 

299. ambush'd fights. The greatest test of the warrior's military training:. 
309. sacred scepter, which each speaker received in turn from the heralds 

to show that he " held the floor," 



BOOK I 41 

This scepter, formed by tempered steel to prove 

An ensign of the delegates of Jove, 

From whom the pow'r of laws and justice springs 315 

(Tremendous oath! inviolate to kings): 

By this I swear, when bleeding Greece again 

Shall call Achilles, she shall call in vain. 

When, flushed with slaughter, Hector comes to spread 

The purpled shore with mountains of the dead, 320 

Then shalt thou mourn th/ affront thy madness gave, 

Forced to deplore, when impotent to save: 

Then rage in bitterness of soul, to know 

This act has made the bravest Greek thy foe." 

He spoke; and furious hurPd against the ground 325 
His scepter starred with golden studs around; 
Then sternly silent sat. With like disdain, 
The raging king returned his frowns again. 

To calm their passions with the words of age, 
Slow from his seat arose the Pylian sage, 330 

Experienced Nestor, in persuasion skilled; 
Words sweet as honey from his lips distilPd: 
Two generations now had passed away, 
Wise by his rules and happy by his sway; 
Two ages o'er his native realm he reigned, 335 

And now th' example of the third remained. 
All viewed with awe the venerable man, 
Who thus with mild benevolence began: 
" What shame, what woe is this to Greece! what joy 
To Troy's proud monarch and the friends of Troy! 340 
That adverse gods commit to stern debate 
The best, the bravest of the Grecian state. 

319-320. The literal translation is "when multitudes fall dying before man- 
slaying Hector." A good example of the way in which Pope smooths and 
weakens Homer's rugged virility. 

330. Pylian. Nestor came from Pylos in tlie Peloponnesus, 



42 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Young as ye are, this youthful heat restrain, 

Nor think your Nestor's years and wisdom vain. 

A godlike race of heroes once I knew, 345 

Such as no more these aged eyes shall view! 

Lives there a chief to match Pirithous' fame, 

Dryas the bold, or Ceneus' deathless name; 

Theseus, endued with more than mortal might, 

Or Polyphemus, like the gods in fight? 350 

With these of old to toils of battle bred, 

In early youth my hardy days I led, 

Fir'd with the thirst which virtuous envy breeds, 

And smit with love of honorable deeds. 

Strongest of men, they pierc'd the mountain 

boar, 355 

Eang'd the wild deserts red with monsters' gore, 
And from their hills the shaggy Centaurs tore. 
Yet these with soft persuasive arts I sway'd; 
When Nestor spoke, they listened and obey'd. 
If in my youth, ev'n these esteemed me wise, 360 

Do you, young warriors, hear my age advise. 
Atrides, seize not on the beauteous slave; 
That prize the Greeks by common suffrage gave: 
Nor thou, Achilles, treat our prince with pride; 
Let kings be just, and sovereign pow'r preside. 365 

Thee the first honors of the war adorn, 
Like gods in strength and of a goddess born; 
Him awful majesty exalts above 
The powers of earth and scepter* d sons of Jove. 



347. Pirithous, the king of the Lapithae in ancient Greek legend. At his mar- 
riage feast, a quarrel arose between the Lapithae and the Centaurs and the latter 
were driven away. Dryas, Ceneus, and Polyphemus were companions of Piri- 
thous. Theseus, the mythical hero of Athens, also assisted him. It is to be 
noticed that these Centaurs were uot the half-men balf-horses of later legend^ 
but merely wild mep, 



BOOK I 43 

Let both unite with well-consenting mind, 370 

So shall authority with strength be joined. 

Leave me, king! to calm Achilles' rage; 

Eule thou thyself, as more advanced in age. 

Forbid it, gods! Achilles should be lost, 

The pride of Greece and bulwark of our host." 375 

This said, he ceased. The king of men replies: 
" Thy years are awful and thy words are wise. 
But that imperious, that unconquerM soul, 
No laws can limit, no respect control: 
Before his pride must his superiors fall, 380 

His word the law, and he the lord of all? 
Him must our hosts, our chiefs, ourself obey? 
What king can bear a rival in his sway? 
Grant that the gods his matchless force have giv'n; 
Has foul reproach a privilege from heav'n?" 385 

Here on the monarch's speech Achilles broke, 
And furious, thus, and interrupting, spoke: 
" Tyrant, I well deserved thy galling chain, 
To live thy slave, and still to serve in vain, 
Should I submit to each unjust decree: 390 

Command thy vassals, but command not me. 
Seize on Briseis, whom the Grecians doomed 
My prize of war, yet tamely see resumed; 
And seize secure; no more Achilles draws 
His conquering sword in any woman's cause. 395 

The gods command me to forgive the past; 
But let this first invasion be the last: 
For know, thy blood, when next thou dar'st invade, 
Shall stream in vengeance on my reeking blade." 



371. Joined. Observe that in Pope's day this was pronounced M jined." 
377. Awful. Thy years inspire awe. 



44 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

At this they ceas'd; the stern debate expired: 400 

The chiefs in sullen majesty retired. 

Achilles with Patroclus took his way, 
Where near his tents his hollow vessels lay. 
Meantime Atrides launched with numerous oars 
A well-rigg'd ship for Chrysa's sacred shores: 405 

High on the deck was fair Chryseis placed, 
And sage Ulysses with the conduct graced: 
Safe in her sides the hecatomb they stow'd, 
Then, swiftly sailing, cut the liquid road. 

The host to expiate next the king prepares, 410 

With pure lustrations and with solemn pray'rs. 
Washed by the briny wave, the pious train 
Are cleans'd; and cast th' ablutions in the main, 
Along the shores whole hecatombs were laid, 
And bulls and goats to Phoebus' altars paid. 415 

The sable fumes in curling spires arise, 
And waft their grateful odors to the skies. 

The army thus in sacred rites engag'd, 
Atrides still with deep resentment rag'd. 
To wait his will two sacred heralds stood, 420 

Talthybius and Eurybates the good. 
" Haste to the fierce Achilles' tent" (he cries); 
" Thence bear Briseis as our royal prize: 
Submit he must; or, if they will not part, 
Ourselves in arms shall tear her from his heart." 425 



411. pure lustrations = purifying ablutions. Lustration is connected with 
a Greek verb meaning to wash, as is also the word ablution. This outward act 
of cleansing was to purify the host from the sin of detaining Chryseis against 
the will of Apollo. 

425. Agamemnon carries out his haughty threat of seizing Briseis. The 
inevitable punishment for this is his humiliation in Book IX., where he is 
induced to send an embassy to Achilles. Meanwhile the Greeks are suf- 
ering for the folly of their king. Not till Book XIX. are the chiefs recon- 
ciled. 



BOOK I 45 

TV unwilling heralds act their lord's commands; 
Pensive they walk along the barren sands: 
Arrived; the hero in his tent they find., 
With gloomy aspect, on his arm reclined. 
At awful distance long they silent stand, 430 

Loath to advance or speak their hard command; 
Decent confusion! This the godlike man 
Perceived, and thus with accent mild began: 

" With leave and honor enter our abodes, 
Ye sacred ministers of men and gods! 435 

I know your message; by constraint you came; 
Not you, but your imperious lord, I blame. 
Patroclus, haste, the fair Briseis bring; 
Conduct my captive to the haughty king. 
But witness, heralds, and proclaim my vow, 440 

Witness to gods above and men below! 
But first and loudest to your prince declare, 
That lawless tyrant whose commands you bear; 
Unmoved as death Achilles shall remain, 
Though prostrate Greece should bleed at ev'ry vein: 
The raging chief in frantic passion lost, 446 

Blind to himself and useless to his host, 
UnskilPd to judge the future by the past, 
In blood and slaughter shall repent at last." 

Patroclus now trr > unwilling beauty brought; 450 
She, in soft sorrows and in pensive thought, 
Passed silent, as the heralds held her hand, 
And oft look'd back, slow-moving o'er the strand. 



430. At awful distance = distance that expressed their awe. They stood 
afar off, from respect for Achilles, and dislike of their errand. 
432. Decent confusion, with becoming hesitation. 

434. We see here the better side of the character of Achilles ; he conrteously 
greets the heralds, though more than suspecting their object in coming. 

435. The persons of heralds were held sacred. 



46 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Not so his loss the fierce Achilles bore; 
But sad retiring to the sounding shore, 455 

O'er the wild margin of the deep he hung, 
That kindred deep from whence his mother sprung; 
There, bath'd in tears of anger and disdain, 
Thus loud lamented to the stormy main: 

" parent goddess! since in early bloom 460 

Thy son must fall, by too severe a doom; 
Sure, to so short a race of glory born, 
Great Jove in justice should this span adorn. 
Honor and fame at least the Thunderer owed, 
And ill he pays the promise of a god, 465 

If yon proud monarch thus thy son defies, 
Obscures my glories, and resumes my prize." 

Far in the deep recesses of the main, 
Where aged Ocean holds his watery reign, 
The goddess-mother heard. The waves divide; 470 
And like a mist she rose above the tide; 
Beheld him mourning on the naked shores, 
And thus the sorrows of his soul explores: 
" Why grieves my son? Thy anguish let me share; 
Eeveal the cause, and trust a parent's care." 475 

He, deeply sighing, said: " To tell my woe, 
Is but to mention what you too well know. 
From Thebe, sacred to Apollo's name 
(Eetion's realm), our conquering army came, 
With treasure loaded and triumphant spoils, 480 

Whose just division crowned the soldier's toils; 

461. Thetis had foretold that her son must either die early, in the midst of a 
glorious career, or live long and ingloriously ; and choosing the former, he set 
out to the Trojan war. 

462. Born as I am to perish so soon, surely it is but just that Jove should 
make my allotted span of life glorious. 

471. Like a mist. The deities of the Greeks arose from the tendency to 
personify the powers of Nature. Lightning was hurled by Jove in his wrath ; 
plagues and sudden deaths were the arrows of Apollo. 



BOOK I 47 

But bright Chryseis, heavenly prize! was led 

By vote selected to the general's bed. 

The priest of Phoebus sought by gifts to gain 

His beauteous daughter from the victor's chain; 485 

The fleet he reached, and, lowly bending down, 

Held forth the scepter and the laurel crown, 

Entreating all; but chief implor'd for grace 

The brother-kings of Atreus' royal race. 

The generous Greeks their joint consent declare, 490 

The priest to reverence and release the fair. 

Not so Atrides: he, with wonted pride, 

The sire insulted, and his gifts denied: 

Th' insulted sire (his god's peculiar care) 

To Phoebus pray'd, and Phoebus heard the pray'r. 495 

A dreadful plague ensues; th' avenging darts 

Incessant fly, and pierce the Grecian hearts. 

A prophet then, inspired by heaven, arose, 

And points the crime, and thence derives the woes: 

Myself the first th' assembled chiefs incline 500 

T* avert the vengeance of the pow'r divine; 

Then, rising in his wrath, the monarch stormed; 

Incensed he threatened, and his threats performed. 

The fair Chryseis to her sire was sent, 

With offered gifts to make the god relent; 505 

But now he seized Briseis' heavenly charms, 

And of my valor's prize defrauds my arms, 

Defrauds the votes of all the Grecian train; 

And service, faith, and justice plead in vain. 

But, goddess! thou thy suppliant son attend, 510 

To high Olympus' shining court ascend, 

499. derives the woes, shows that the plagues are owing to this crime, the 
detaining of Chryseis. 

508. Defrauds the votes, The Greeks had voted that Achilles should have 
Bnsels. 



48 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Urge all the ties to former service ow'd, 

And sue for vengeance to the thundering god. 

Oft hast thou triumphed in the glorious boast 

That thou stood'st forth, of all th' ethereal host, 515 

When bold rebellion shook the realms above, 

Th' undaunted guard of cloud-compelling Jove. 

When the bright partner of his awful reign, 

The warlike maid, and monarch of the main, 

The traitor-gods, by mad ambition driven, 520 

Durst threat with chains th' omnipotence of heav'n, 

Then called by thee, the monster Titan came 

(Whom gods Briareus, men iEgeon name); 

Through wondering skies enormous stalked along, 

Not he that shakes the solid earth so strong: 525 

With giant-pride at Jove's high throne he stands, 

And brandished round him all his hundred hands. 

Th' affrighted gods confessed their awful lord, 

They dropped the fetters, trembled, and ador'd. 

This, goddess, this to his rememb'rance call, 530 

Embrace his knees, at his tribunal fall; 

Conjure him far to drive the Grecian train, 

To hurl them headlong to their fleet and main, 

To heap the shores with copious death, and bring 

The Greeks to know the curse of such a king. 535 



516. The Jupiter of the Iliad, besides the dangerous rebellion against his 
authority recounted by Achilles, has much ado to keep the turbulent gods and 
goddesses of Ohmpus in order ; he holds the balance between hot partisans of 
the Greeks and Trojans. 

518. the bright partner, Juno. 

519. The warlike maid, Minerva. 

the monarch of the main, Neptune. 

528. confess'd their awful lord, showed that they acknowledged the 
majesty of Jove. 

531. " Clasping the knees and touching the chin is the recognized attitude of 
the Greek suppliant. It is probably derived from the action or the wounded 
warrior who with the left arm clasps the knees of the victor to hamper his 
movement, and with the right hand turns aside his face so that he cannot aim 
the fatal blow till he has heard the appeal for mercy."— Leaf. 

534. copious death, heap the shores with bodies of the slain. 



BOOK I 49 

Let Agamemnon lift his haughty head 

O'er all his wide dominion of the dead, 

And mourn in blood that e'er he durst disgrace 

The boldest warrior of the Grecian race/' 

" Unhappy son! " (fair Thetis thus replies, 540 

While tears celestial trickle from her eyes) 
" Why have I borne thee with a mother's throes, 
To fates averse, and nurs'd for future woes? 
So short a space the light of heav'n to view! 
So short a space! and fill'd with sorrow too! 545 

Oh might a parent's careful wish prevail, 
Far, far from Ilion should thy vessels sail, 
And thou, from camps remote, the danger shun, 
Which now, alas! too nearly threats my son: 
Yet (what I can) to move thy suit I'll go 550 

To great Olympus crown'd with fleecy snow. 
Meantime, secure within thy ships, from far 
Behold the field, nor mingle in the war. 
The sire of gods and all th' ethereal train 
On the warm limits of the farthest main, 555 

Now mix with mortals, nor disdain to grace 
The feasts of ^Ethiopia's blameless race: 
Twelve days the pow'rs indulge the genial rite, 
Eeturning with the twelfth revolving light. 
Then will I mount the brazen dome, and move 560 
The high tribunal of immortal Jove." 

The goddess spoke: the rolling waves unclose; 
Then down the deep she plung'd, from whence she 
rose, 



544. So short a space. This must refer to the coming death of Achilles 
from the arrow of Paris. 

555. The ancients believed the world to be flat, and encircled by ocean. 
The ^Ethiopians were supposed to extend to the east and west limits of the 
earth. 



50 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

And left him sorrowing on the lonely coast, 

In wild resentment for the fair he lost. 565 

In Chrysa's port now sage Ulysses rode; 
Beneath the deck the destined victims stow'd; 
The sails they furPd, they lash'd the mast aside, 
And dropped their anchors, and the pinnace tied. 
Next on the shore their hecatomb they land, 570 

Chryseis last descending on the strand. 
Her, thus returning from the furrow'd main, 
Ulysses led to Phoebus' sacred fane; 
Where at his solemn altar, as the maid 
He gave to Chryses, thus the hero said: 575 

" Hail, reverend priest! to Phoebus' awful dome 
A suppliant I from great Atrides come: 
Unransom'd here receive the spotless fair; 
Accept the hecatomb the Greeks prepare; 
And may thy god, who scatters darts around, 580 

Aton'd by sacrifice, desist to wound." 

At this the sire embraced the maid again, 
So sadly lost, so lately sought in vain. 
Then near the altar of the darting king, 
Disposed in rank their hecatomb they bring: 585 

With water purify their hands, and take 
The sacred off ring of the salted cake; 



569 anchors. The Homeric anchor was a large stone placed on the shore 
to which the hawsers were made fast. 

576. dome, used in the sense of building. 

581. aton'd, propitiated. 

586. The Homeric sacrificial rite was performed as follows : The officiating 
priest first washed his hands in consecrated water, then salted barley was 
sprinkled on the victim's head and a lock of hair cut from the forehead and 
burned. After this the animal's throat was cut while the head was* turned up 
and back (in case of sacrifice to a deity of the lower world the head was held 
downward). The thighs were then cut out, covered with a double layer of fat 
and pieces of meat, and the whole burned while libations of wine were poured 
on. The savor of the burnt flesh was supposed to rise to Olympus and give 
pleasure to the gods. 



BOOK I 51 

While thus with arms devoutly rais'd in air 
And solemn voice, the priest directs his pray'r: 

" God of the silver bow, thy ear incline, 590 

Whose pow'r encircles Cilia the divine; 
Whose sacred eye thy Tenedos surveys, 
And gilds fair Chrysa with distinguished rays! 
If, fir'd to vengeance at thy priest's request, 
Thy direful darts inflict the raging pest; 595 

Once more attend! avert the wasteful woe, 
And smile propitious, and unbend thy bow." 

So Chryses prayed: Apollo heard his prayer; 
And now the Greeks their hecatomb prepare; 
Between their horns the salted barley threw, 600 

And with their heads to heaven the victims slew: 
The limbs they sever from th' inclosing hide; 
The thighs, selected to the gods, divide: 
On these, in double cauls involved with art, 
The choicest morsels lay from ev'ry part. 605 

The priest himself before his altar stands, 
And burns the offering with his holy hands, 
Pours the black wine, and sees the flames aspire; 
The youths with instruments surround the fire. 
The thighs thus sacrificed and entrails dress'd, 610 

Th' assistants part, transfix, and roast the rest: 
Then spread the tables, the repast prepare, 
Each takes his seat, and each receives his share. 
When now the rage of hunger was repressed, 
With pure libations they conclude the feast; 615 

The youths with wine the copious goblets crowned, 
And, pleased, dispense the flowing bowls around. 

608. black, dark colored. 

609. instruments, five pronged forks which were used to prevent the escape 
of any part of the offering from the fire. 

616. crown'd, filled to the brim. 



52 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

With hymns divine the joyous banquet ends, 

The paeans lengthened till the sun descends: 

The Greeks, restor'd, the grateful notes prolong: 620 

Apollo listens, and approves the song. 

'Twas night; the chiefs beside their vessel lie, 
Till rosy morn had purpled o'er the sky: 
Then launch, and hoist the mast; indulgent gales, 
Supplied by Phoebus, fill the swelling sails; 625 

The milk-white canvas bellying as they blow, 
The parted ocean foams and roars below: 
Above the bounding billows swift they flew, 
Till now the Grecian camp appear'd in view. 
Far on the beach they haul their barks to land 630 

(The crooked keel divides the yellow sand), 
Then part, where, stretched along the winding bay, 
The ships and tents in mingled prospect lay. 

But, raging still, amidst his navy sate 
The stern Achilles, steadfast in his hate: 635 

Nor mix'd in combat nor in council joined; 
But wasting cares lay heavy on his mind; 
In his black thoughts revenge and slaughter roll, 
And scenes of blood rise dreadful in his soul. 

Twelve days were past, and now the dawning 
light 640 

The gods had summoned to th' Olympian height: 
Jove, first ascending from the wat'ry bow'rs, 
Leads the long order of ethereal pow'rs, 



622. Note the superior effectiveness of the " noble simplicity " of the original : 
14 So all day long worshiped they the god with music, singing the beautiful 
psean, the sons of the Achaians making music to the Far-darter ; and his 
heart was glad to hear. And when the sun went down and darkness came on 
them, they laid them to sleep beside the ship's hawsers ; and when rosy- 
fingered Dawn appeared, the child of morning, then set they sail for the wide 
camp of the Achaians. " 

630. Observe that the Homeric " ships " are so small that they can be drawn 
up on the shore. 



BOOK I 53 

When, like the morning mist, in early day, 

Eose from the flood the daughter of the sea; 645 

And to the seats divine her flight addressed. 

There, far apart, and high above the rest, 

The Thunderer sate; where old Olympus shrouds 

His hundred heads in heaven, and props the clouds. 

Suppliant the goddess stood: one hand she placed 650 

Beneath his beard, a d one his knees embraced. 

"If e'er, father of the gods! " she said, 

" My words could please thee or my actions aid; 

Some marks of honor on my son bestow, 

And pay in glory what in life you owe. 655 

Fame is at least by heavenly promise due 

To life so short, and now dishonored too. 

Avenge this wrong, ever just and wise! 

Let Greece be humbled and the Trojans rise; 

Till the proud king and all th' Achaian race 660 

Shall heap with honors him they now disgrace." 

Thus Thetis spoke, but Jove in silence held 
The sacred councils of his breast concealed. 
Not so repulsed, the goddess closer pressed, 
Still grasped his knees, and urg'd the dear request: 665 
" sire of gods and men! thy suppliant hear; 
Refuse or grant; for what has Jove to fear? 
Or, oh! declare, of all the powers above, 
Is wretched Thetis least the care of Jove? " 

She said, and sighing thus the god replies 670 

Who rolls the thunder o'er the vaulted skies: 

"What hast thou ask'd? Ah! why should Jove 
engage 
In foreign contests and domestic rage, 

655. Requite him with glory for the life you are taking from him. 
662. in silence, because Jove felt that he ought to be neutral between the 
Greeks and Trojans. 



54 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

The gods' complaints, and Juno's fierce alarms, 

While I, too partial, aid the Trojan arms? 675 

Go, lest the haughty partner of my sway 

With jealous eyes thy close access survey; 

But part in peace, secure thy pray'r is sped: 

Witness the sacred honors of our head, 

The nod that ratines the will divine, 680 

The faithful, fix'd, irrevocable sign; 

This seals thy suit, and this fulfills thy vows — " 

He spoke; and awful bends his sable brows, 

Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod, 

The stamp of fate and sanction of the god: 685 

High heav'n with trembling the dread signal took, 

And all Olympus to the center shook. 

Swift to the seas profound the goddess flies, 
Jove to his starry mansion in the skies. 
The shining synod of th' immortals wait 690 

The coming god, and from their thrones of state 
Arising silent, rapt in holy fear, 
Before the majesty of heav'n appear. 
Trembling they stand, while Jove assumes the 

throne, 
All but the god's imperious queen alone: 695 



674. Jove fears that Juno has already seen him speaking with Thetis. 

683v " This description of the majesty of Jupiter has something exceedingly 
grand and venerable. Macrobius reports that Phidias having made his Olym- 
pian Jupiter, which passed for one of the greatest miracles of art, was asked 
from what pattern he framed so divine a figure, and answered, it was from that 
archetype which he found in these lines. 11 — Pope. 

695, "The scene between Zeus and Hera is typical of the spirit in which 
Homer treats the deities of Olympia. It is, to say the least, not reverent, and 
far removed from any conception of primitive piety. It is, indeed, one among 
many signs that the civilization of the heroic age was old and not young— a 
civilization which was outgrowing the simple faith of its ancestors. It has 
often been pointed out with truth that the humor of Homer is almost entirely 
confined to the scenes in Olympus, which seems to be treated as a fit oppor- 
tunity for the display of passions which would be beneath the dignity of 
heroes. Even in morality the tone of Olympus is distinctly beneath that of 
earth. Mr. Gladstone hns well remarked that not one of the gods can be called 
as distinctly good as the swine-herd Eumaios."— Leaf. 



BOOK I 55 

Late had she viewed the silver-footed dame, 

And all her passions kindled into flame. 

" Say, artful manager of heaven " (she cries), 

" Who now partakes the secrets of the skies ? 

Thy Juno knows not the decrees of fate, 700 

In vain the partner of imperial state. 

What favorite goddess then those cares divides 

Which Jove in prudence from his consort hides? " 

To this the Thunderer: " Seek not thou to find 
The sacred counsels of almighty mind: 705 

Involved in darkness lies the great decree, 
Nor can the depths of fate be pierced by thee; 
What fits thy knowledge, thou the first shalt know: 
The first of gods above and men below; 
But thou nor they shall search the thoughts that roll 
Deep in the close recesses of my soul." 711 

Full on the sire the goddess of the skies 
RolFd the large orbs of her majestic eyes, 
And thus returned: "Austere Saturnius, say, 
From whence this wrath, or who controls thy sway? 
Thy boundless will, for me, remain3 in force, 716 

And all thy counsels take the destined course. 
But 'tis for Greece I fear: for late was seen 
In close consult the silver-fcoted queen. 
Jove to his Thetis nothing could deny, 720 

Nor was the signal vain that shook the sky. 
What fatal favor has the goddess won, 
To grace her fierce inexorable son? 
Perhaps in Grecian blood to drench the plain, 
And glut his vengeance with my people slain." 725 



714 Saturnius. Jupiter was the son of Saturn, who preceded him as ruler 
of heaven, 



56 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Then thus the god: " Oh restless fate of pride, 
That strives to learn what heav'n resolves to hide! 
Vain is the search, presumptuous and abhorred, 
Anxious to thee and odious to thy lord. 
Let this suffice; th' immutable decree 730 

No force can shake : what is, that ought to be. 
Goddess, submit, nor dare our will withstand, 
But dread the power of this avenging hand; 
Th' united strength of all the gods above 
In vain resists th' omnipotence of Jove." 735 

The Thunderer spoke, nor durst the queen reply; 
A reverend horror silenced all the sky. 
The feast disturbed, with sorrow Vulcan saw 
His mother menaced and the gods in awe; 
Peace at his heart and pleasure his design, 740 

Thus interposed the architect divine: 
" The wretched quarrels of the mortal state 
Are far unworthy, gods! of your debate: 
Let men their days in senseless strife employ; 
We, in eternal peace and constant joy. 745 

Thou, goddess-mother, with our sire comply, 
Nor break the sacred union of the sky : 
Lest, roused to rage, he shake the blest abodes, 
Launch the red lightning, and dethrone the gods. 
If you submit, the Thunderer stands appeased; 750 
The gracious pow'r is willing to be pleasM." 

Thus Vulcan spoke; and, rising with a bound, 
The double bowl with sparkling nectar crowned, 
Which held to Juno in a cheerful way, 
" Goddess " (he cried), " be patient and obey. 755 

741 architect. Vulcan had built the palaces in which the gods dwelt. 

753. double bowl. A vessel formed like two bells joined together, so that 
it was a goblet whichever way it was turned up. " Nectar " was the drink of 
the gods, " ymbrosia " their food, 



BOOK I 57 

Dear as you are, if Jove his arm extend, 

I can but grieve, unable to defend. 

What god so daring in your aid to move, 

Or lift his hand against the force of Jove? 

Once in your cause I felt his matchless might, 760 

HurPd headlong downward from th^ ethereal height; 

Tossed all the day in rapid circles round; 

Nor, till the sun descended, touched the ground: 

Breathless I fell, in giddy motion lost; 

The Sinthians raised me on the Lemnian coast." 765 

He said, and to her hands the goblet heaved, 
Which, with a smile, the white-arm' d queen received. 
Then to the rest he filPd; and, in his turn, 
Each to his lips applied the nectar* d urn. 
Vulcan with awkward grace his office plies, 770 

And unextinguished laughter shakes the skies. 

Thus the blest gods the genial day prolong 
In feasts ambrosial and celestial song. 
Apollo tun'd the lyre; the muses round 
With voice alternate aid the silver sound. 775 

Meantime the radiant sun, to mortal sight 
Descending swift, rolPd down the rapid light. 
Then to their starry domes the gods depart, 
The shining monuments of Vulcan's art: 
Jove on his couch reclined his awful head, 780 

And Juno slumber'd on the golden bed. 

778. starry domes. Each deity had a separate palace on Olympus. 

781. " It is impossible to leave this splendid book without noticing the supreme 
art with which all the leading characters on both the stages of the coming 
story have been introduced to us, drawn in strong strokes where not a touch is 
lost, and standing before us at once as finished types for all time. On earth 
we already know the contrast between the surly resentment of Agamemnon 
and the flaming but placable passion of Achilles, and we have had a glimpse 
of the mild wisdom of Nestor and the devoted friendship of Patroclus. In 
heaven the three chief actors, Zeus, Hera, and Athene, already present them- 
selves as the strong but overweighted husband, the zealous and domineering 
wife, and the ideal of self-restraint and wise reflection. The third book will do 
the same for the Trojan side, showing us in vivid outline Hector, Paris, and 
Priam, and their chief advocate in heaven, the goddess Aphrodite, with her 
victim Helen, the center of the tragedy. 1 '— Leaf. 



BOOK II 

THE TRIAL OF THE ARMY AND CATALOGUE OF THE FORCES 

Jupiter, in pursuance of the request of Thetis, sends a deceitful 
vision to Agamemnon, persuading him to lead the army to battle, 
in order to make the Greeks sensible of their want of Achilles. 
The general, who is deluded with the hopes of taking Troy with- 
out his assistance, but fears the army was discouraged by his 
absence and the late plague, as well as by length of time, con- 
trives to make trial of their disposition by a stratagem. He first 
communicates his design to the princes in council, that he would 
propose a return to the soldiers, and that they should put a stop 
to them if the proposal was embraced. Then he assembles the 
whole host, and upon moving for a return to Greece, they unani- 
mously agree to it, and run to prepare the ships, They are 
detained by the management of Ulysses, who chastises the inso- 
lence of Thersites. The assembly is recalled, several speeches 
made on the occasion, and at length the advice of Nestor fol- 
lowed, which was to made a general muster of the troops, and to 
divide them into their several nations, before they proceeded to 
battle. This gives occasion to the poet to enumerate all the forces 
of the Greeks and Trojans in a large catalogue. 

The time employed in this book consists not entirely of one 
day. The scene lies in the Grecian camp and upon the sea-shore ; 
toward the end it removes to Troyl 

BOOK III 

THE DUEL OF MENELAUS AND PARIS 

The armies being ready to engage, a single combat is agreed 
upon between Menelaus and Paris (by the intervention of Hector) 
for the determination of the war. Iris is sent to call Helen to 
behold the fight. She leads her to the walls of Troy, where 

58 



BOOK V 59 

Priam sat with his counselors, observing the Grecian leaders on 
the plain below, to whom Helen gives an account of the chief of 
them. The kings on either part take the solemn oath for the con- 
ditions of the combat. The duel ensues, wherein Paris, being 
overcome, is snatched away in a cloud by Venus, and transported 
to his apartment. She then calls Helen from the walls, and 
brings the lovers together. Agamemnon, on the part of the 
Grecians, demands the restoration of Helen, and the performance 
of the articles. 

The three-and-twentieth day still continues throughout this 
book. The scene is sometimes in the field before Troy, and some- 
times in Troy itself. 

BOOK IV 

THE BREACH OF THE TRUCE AND THE FIRST BATTLE 

The gods deliberate in council concerning the Trojan war : 
they agree upon the continuation of it, and Jupiter sends down 
Minerva to break the truce. She persuades Pandarus to aim an 
arrow at Menelau.3, who is wounded, but cured by Machaon. In 
the meantime some of the Trojan troops attack the Greeks. 
Agamemnon is distinguished in all the parts of a good general ; 
he reviews the troops, and exhorts the leaders, some by praises, 
and others by reproofs. Nestor is particularly celebrated for his 
military discipline . The battle joins, and great numbers are slain 
on both sides. 

The same day continues through this, as through the last book ; 
as it does also through the two following, and almost to the end 
of the seventh book. The scene is w 7 holly in the field before 
Troy. 

BOOK V 

THE ACTS OF DIOMED 

Diomed, assisted by Pallas, performs wonders in this day's 
battle. Pandarus wounds him with an arrow, but the goddess 
cures him, enables him to discern gods from mortals, and pro- 
hibits him from contending with any of the former, excepting 
Venus. ^Eneas joins Pandarus to oppose him, Pandarus is killed, 



60 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

and ^Eneas in great danger but for the assistance of Venus, who, 
as she is removing her son from the fight, is wounded on the hand 
by Diomed. Apollo seconds her in his rescue, and at length 
carries off JEneas to Troy, where he is healed in the temple of 
Pergamus. Mars rallies the Trojans, and assists Hector to make 
a stand. In the meantime JEneas is restored to the field, and they 
overthrow several of the Greeks ; among the rest Tlepolemus is 
slain by Sarpedon. Juno and Minerva descend to resist Mars ; 
the latter incites Diomed to go against that god ; he wounds him, 
and sends him groaning to heaven. 

The first battle continues through this book. The scene is the 
same as in the former. 



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DIOMED IN HIS CHARIOT 

BOOK VI 
THE ARGUMENT 

THE EPISODES OP GLAUCUS AND DIOMED, AND OP HECTOR AND 
ANDROMACHE 

The gods having left the field, the Grecians prevail. Helenus, 
the chief augur of Troy, commands Hector to return to the city, 
in order to appoint a solemn procession of the queen and the 
Trojan matrons to the temple of Minerva, to entreat her to 
remove Diomed from the fight. The battle relaxing during the 
absence of Hector, Glaucus and Diomed have an interview 
between the two armies ; where, coming to the knowledge of the 
friendship and hospitality past between their ancestors, they make 
exchange of their arms. Hector, having performed the orders of 
Helenus, prevailed upon Paris to return to the battle, and, taking 
a tender leave of his wife Andromache, hastens again to the field. 

The scene is first in the field of battle, between the rivers Simoi's 
and Scamander, and then changes to Troy. 

Now heaven forsakes the fight; th' immortals yield 
To human force and human skill the field: 

1. 4i Of all the Iliad this incomparable book attains the grandest heights of 
narration and composition, of action and pathos. Nowhere else have we so 

61 



62 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Dark show'rs of jav'lins fly from foes to foes; 
Now here, now there, the tide of combat flows; 
While Troy's fam'd streams, that bound the deathful 
plain, . 5 

On either side run purple to the main. 

Great Ajax first to conquest led the way, 
Broke the thick ranks, and turned the doubtful day. 
The Thracian Acamas his falchion found, 
And hew'd th' enormous giant to the ground; 10 

His thundering arm a deadly stroke impress'd 
Where the black horse-hair nodded o'er his crest: 
Fix'd in his front the brazen weapon lies, 
And seals in endless shades his swimming eyes. 
Next Teuthras' son distain'd the sands with blood, 15 
Axylus, hospitable, rich, and good: 
In fair Arisba's walls (his native place) 
He held his seat; a friend to human race. 
Fast by the road, his ever-open door 
Obliged the wealthy and relieved the poor. 20 

To stern Tydides now he falls a prey, 
No friend to guard him in the dreadful day! 
Breathless the good man fell, and by his side 
His faithful servant, old Calesius, died. 

By great Euryalus was Dresus slain, 25 

And next he laid Opheltius on the plain. 

perfect a gallery of types of human character ; the two pairs, Hector and Paris, 
Helen and Andromache, in their truthfulness and contrast, form a group as 
subtly as they are broadly drawn; while, on the other hand, the 'battle 
vignettes' with which the book opens, and the culmination of the scenes of 
war in the meeting of Glaucus and Diomedes, set before us with unequaled 
vivacity the pride of life of an heroic age. the refinement of feeling which no 
fierceness of fight can barbarize, in the most consummate manner of the 'great 
style.' "—Leaf. 

5. Streams, Scamander and Simo'is. 

9. Acamas, leader of the Thracians, and famed for his prowess. Mars him- 
self had assumed his form on a previous occasion. 

24. servant. The Homeric heroes had companions who were analogous to 
the esquires of the Middle A ges and performed similar services in harnessing 
the horses, driving the chariot, etc. 



BOOK VI 63 

Two twins were near, bold, beautiful, and young, 

From a fair Naiad and Bucolion sprung 

(Laomedon's white flocks Bucolion fed, 

That monarch's first-born by a foreign bed; 30 

In secret woods he won the Naiad's grace, 

And two fair infants crown' d his strong embrace) : 

Here dead they lay in all their youthful charms; 

The ruthless victor stripped their shining arms. 

Astyalus by Polypoetes fell: 35 

Ulysses' spear Pidytes sent to hell; 
By Teucer's shaft brave Aretaon bled, 
And Nestor's son laid stern Ablerus dead; 
Great Agamemnon, leader of the brave, 
The mortal wound of rich Elatus gave, 40 

Who held in Pedasus his proud abode, 
And till'd the banks where silver Satnio flow'd. 
Melanthius by Eurypylus was slain: 
And Phylacus from Leitus flies in vain. 

Unbless'd Adrastus next at mercy lies 45 

Beneath the Spartan spear, a living prize. 
Scar'd with the din and tumult of the fight, 
His headlong steeds, precipitate in flight, 
Eush'd on a tamarisk's strong trunk, and broke 
The shatter'd chariot from the crooked yoke: 50 

Wide o'er the field, resistless as the wind, 
For Troy they fly, and leave their lord behind. 
Prone on his face he sinks beside the wheel. 
Atrides o'er him shakes his vengeful steel; 
The fallen chief in suppliant posture press'd 55 

The victor's knees, and thus his pray'r address'd: 

28. Naiad, a water nymph. 
46. Spartan spear, of Menelaus. 

49-50. The yoke was fastened to the extremity of the pole. As soon there- 
fore as the pole was broken the horses broke loose from the chariot. 



64 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

" Oh! spare my youth, and for the life I owe 
Large gifts of price my father shall bestow: 
When fame shall tell that, not in battle slain, 
Thy hollow ships his captive son detain; 60 

Eich heaps of brass shall in thy tent be told, 
And steel well-temper'd, and persuasive gold." 

He said: compassion touch'd the hero's heart; 
He stood suspended with the lifted dart. 
As pity pleaded for his vanquished prize, 65 

Stern Agamemnon swift to vengeance flies, 
And furious thus: " impotent of mind! 
Shall these, shall these Atrides' mercy find? 
Well hast thou known proud Troy's perfidious land, 
And well her natives merit at thy hand! 70 

Not one of all the race, nor sex, nor age, 
Shall save a Trojan from our boundless rage; 
Ilion shall perish whole, and bury all; 
Her babes, her infants at the breast, shall fall. 
A dreadful lesson of exampled fate, 75 

To warn the nations and to curb the great! " 

The monarch spoke; the words, with warmth ad- 
dressed, 
To rigid justice steel'd his brother's breast. 
Fierce from his knees the hapless chief he thrust; 
The monarch's jav'lin stretch'd him in the dust. 80 
Then, pressing with his foot his panting heart, 
Forth from the slain he tugg'd the reeking dart. 
Old Nestor saw, and rous'd the warriors' rage: 
" Thus, heroes! thus the vig'rous comb at wage! 

61. From this passage it appears that metals of various kinds were esteemed 
as treasure, bronze and iron as well as those more precious in pur eyes- Copper 
was used in the Mycenaean age almost exclusively for offensive weapons. By 
what means it was sufficiently hardened is not known. OOT , b „ t5miRnrM 

76. This line and line 88 are good examples of the compact sententiousncss 
so characteristic of Pope's style. 



BOOK VI 65 

No son of Mars descend, for servile gains, 85 

To touch the booty, while a foe remains. 
Behold yon glittering host, your future spoil! 
First gain the conquest, then reward the toil." 

And now had Greece eternal fame acquired, 
And frighted Troy within her walls retired; 90 

Had not sage Helenus her state redressed, 
Taught by the gods that mov'd his sacred breast. 
Where Hector stood, with great iEneas join'd, 
The seer reveaPd the counsels of his mind: 

" Ye gen'rous chiefs! on whom th' immortals lay 95 
The cares and glories of this doubtful day, 
On whom your aids, your country's hopes depend, 
Wise to consult and active to defend! 
Here, at our gates, your brave efforts unite, 
Turn back the routed, and forbid the flight; 100 

Ere yet their wives' soft arms the cowards gain, 
The sport and insult of the hostile train. 
When your commands have heartened ev'ry band, 
Ourselves, here fix'd, will make the dangerous stand; 
Pressed as we are and sore of former fight, 105 

These straits demand our last remains of might. 
Meanwhile, thou, Hector, to the town retire, 
And teach our mother what the gods require: 
Direct the queen to lead th' assembled train 
Of Troy's chief matrons to Minerva's fane; 110 

91. sage Helenus, son of Priam. It is not clear how Helenns " redressed the 
state of Troy on this occasion. He advised Hector to return to Troy, for the 
PyP°s e ° f winning the nel P of Minerva against Diomed. But we are expressly 
told that the sacrifices were in vain ; in fact, they were offered to the very god- 
dess who had taken Diomed under her special protection. 

95. Since the toil of battle devolves upon you more than upon the rest of the 
Trojans. 

97. aids, the Lycian allies of Troy. 

99. at our gates, i.e., make a last appeal to the courage of the host, before it 
flees for safety behind the walls. 

106 Our desperate condition requires ns to strain every nerve. 

108. our mother, Hecuba. 



66 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Unbar the sacred gates, and seek the pow'r, 

With offered vows, in Ilion's topmost tow'r. 

The largest mantle her rich wardrobes hold, 

Most prized for art, and labored o'er with gold, 

Before the goddess' honored knees be spread; 115 

And twelve young heifers to her altars led. 

If so the pow'r, aton'd by fervent prayer, 

Our wives, our infants, and our city spare, 

And far avert Tydides' wasteful ire, 

That mows whole troops and makes all Troy retire. 120 

Not thus Achilles taught our hosts to dread, 

Sprung though he was from more than mortal bed; 

Not thus resistless ruPd the stream of fight, 

In rage unbounded and unmatched in might/' 

Hector obedient heard, and with a bound 125 

Leap'd from his trembling chariot to the ground; 
Through all his host, inspiring force, he flies, 
And bids the thunder of the battle rise. 
With rage recruited the bold Trojans glow, 
And turn the tide of conflict on the foe: 130 

Fierce in the front he shakes two dazzling spears; 
All Greece recedes, and midst her triumph fears: 
Some god, they thought, who rul'd the fate of wars, 
Shot down avenging from the vault of stars. 

Then thus, aloud: "Ye dauntlecs Dardans, hear! 
And you whom distant nations send to war! 136 

115. The text of Homer should be translated, " on her knees," whereas the 
statues of Minerva were generally represented as standing:. 

117. If haply the goddess, propitiated by prayer, may spare our city. 

119. Tydides, a patronymic for Diomed, son of Tydens. Thus we find 
Atrides for Agamemnon, Laertiades for Ulysses. In the fifth book, Diomed, 
directly inspired by Minerva, slew Pandarns. the breaker of the truce; and 
after performing prodigies of valor, even dared to oppose the god of war him- 
pelf, who had come down to help the Trojans. In the combat Mars is severely 
wounded, and roars with pain, and hurrying back to Olympus complains to 
Jnniter of the insolence of the mortal Diomed. 

133. The Greeks thonght some god must have come down to help the Trojans 
and encourage them, 



BOOK VI 67 

Be mindful of the strength your fathers bore; 

Be still yourselves, and Hector asks no more. 

One hour demands me in the Trojan wall, 

To bid our altars flame and victims fall: * 140 

Nor shall, I trust, the matrons^ holy train 

And reverend elders seek the gods in vain." 

This said, with ample strides the hero passed; 
The shield's large orb behind his shoulder cast, 
His neck o'ershading, to his ankle hung; 145 

And as he marched the brazen buckler rung. 

Now paused the battle (godlike Hector gone), 
When daring Glaucus and great Tydeus' son 
Between both armies met; the chiefs from far 
Observed each other, and had marked for war. 150 

Near as they drew, Tydides thus began: 

" What art thou, boldest of the race of man? 
Our eyes, till now, that aspect ne'er beheld, 
Where fame is reap'd amid th' embattled field; 
Yet far before the troops thou dar'st appear, 155 

And meet a lance the fiercest heroes fear. 
Unhappy they and born of luckless sires, 
Who tempt our fury when Minerva fires! 



145. The shield waaso large that it knocked against his neck and legs as he 
walked. This is a very graphic description and seems to bring Hector actually 
before us. The shield of the warrior must be supposed to be a long oval one, 
sufficiently large to cover his whole person. Over the framework of this a 
hide is placed, and over the hide plates of metal. All around the edge or rim the 
hide projects from under the plates, forming a sort of border. When Hector 
departs from the fight he throws this shield on his back, and as he moves 
rapidly along, the projecting hide keeps flapping against and striking his neck 
and ankles. 

147. Now paus'd the battle. "The poet's method of introducing his 
episode, also illustrates, in a curious manner, his tact in the dramatic depart- 
ment of his art. Where, for example, one or more heroes are dispatched on 
some commission, to be executed at a certain distance of time or place, the 
fulfillment of this task is not, aaa general rule, immediately described. A cer- 
tain interval is allowed them for reaching the appointed scene of action, which 
interval is dramatized, as it were, either by a temporary continuation of the 
previous narrative, or by fixing attention for a while on some new trans- 
action, at the close of which the further account of the mission is resumed." 
— Mure. 



68 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

But if from heaven, celestial, thou descend, 

Know, with immortals we no more contend. 160 

Not long Lycurgus viewed the golden light, 

That daring man who mix'd with gods in fight. 

Bacchus and Bacchus' votaries he drove 

With brandished steel from Nyssa's sacred grove: 

Their consecrated spears lay scattered round, 165 

With curling vines and twisted ivy bound; 

While Bacchus headlong sought the briny flood, 

And Thetis' arms received the trembling god. 

Nor faiPd the crime th/ immortals' wrath to move 

(Th' immortals bless'd with endless ease above); 170 

Deprived of sight by their avenging doom, 

Cheerless he breath'd and wander'd in the gloom: 

Then sunk unpitied to the dire abodes, 

A wretch accurs'd and hated by the gods! 

I brave not heaven; but if the fruits of earth 175' 

Sustain thy life, and human be thy birth, 

Bold as thou art, too prodigal of breath, 

Approach, and enter the dark gates of death." 

" What, or from whence I am, or who my sire " 
(Eeplied the chief), " can Tydeus' son inquire? 180 
Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, 
Now green in youth, now with'ring on the ground: 
Another race the following spring supplies; 
They fall successive and successive rise: 
So generations in their course decay; . 185 

So flourish these, when those are pass'd away. 



161. Lycurgus, King of the Edones in Thrace, drove out of his territories 
the nurses of Bacchus, the wine-god, fearing their corrupting influence. For 
this impiety he was smitten with blindness. 

165. Consecrated spears, the sacred wands crowned with pine cones used 
in the worship of Bacchus. 



BOOK VI 69 

But if thou still persist to search my birth, 
Then hear a tale that fills the spacious earth. 

" A city stands on Argos' utmost bound 
(Argos the fair, for warlike steeds renowned); 190 

iEolian Sisyphus, with wisdom bless'd, 
In ancient time the happy walls possessed, 
Then call'd Ephyre: Grlaucus was his son, 
Great Glaucus, father of Bellerophon, 
Who o'er the sons of men in beauty shin'd, 195 

Lov'd for that valor which preserves mankind. 
Then mighty Proetus Argos' scepter sway'd, 
Whose hard commands Bellerophon obeyed. 
With direful jealousy the monarch rag'd, 
And the brave prince in numerous toils engaged. 200 
For him Antea burn'd with lawless flame, 
And strove to tempt him from the paths of fame: 
In vain she tempted the relentless youth, 
Endu'd with wisdom, sacred fear, and truth. 
Fir'd at his scorn, the queen to Proetus fled, 205 

And begg'd revenge for her insulted bed. 
Incens'd he heard, resolving on his fate; 
But hospitable laws restrained his hate: 
To Lycia the devoted youth he sent, 
With tablets seal'd, that told his dire intent. 210 

Now, bless'd by ev'ry pow'r who guards the good, 
The chief arrived at Xanthus' silver flood: 
There Lycia's monarch paid him honors due; 
Nine days he feasted, and nine bulls he slew. 
But when the tenth bright morning orient glow'd, 215 
The faithful youth his monarch's mandate show'd: 

210. tablets. Scholars are in doubt whether writing was or was not known 
to the Homeric Greeks. 
213-215. It was customary to feast a stranger before asking his errand. 



^70 THE ILIAD OF HOMES 

The fatal tablets, till that instant seal'd, 

The deathful secret to the king reveaPd: 

First, dire Chimera's conquest was enjoin'd: 

A mingled monster, of no mortal kind; 220 

Behind, a dragon's fiery tail was spread; 

A goat's rough body bore a lion's head; 

Her pitchy nostrils flaky flames expire; 

Her gaping throat emits infernal fire. 

" This pest he slaughter'd (for he read the skies, 225 
And trusted heav'n's informing prodigies); 
Then met in arms the Solymsean crew 
(Fiercest of men), and those the warrior slew. 
Next the bold Amazons' whole force defied; 
And conquer'd still, for heav'n was on his side. 230 

" Nor ended here his toils: his Lycian foes, 
At his return, a treach'rous ambush rose, 
With level'd spears along the winding shore: 
There fell they breathless, and return'd no more. 

" At length the monarch with repentant grief 235 
Confess'd the gods and god-descended chief; 
His daughter gave, the stranger to detain, 
With half the honors of his ample reign. 
The Lycians grant a chosen space of ground, 
With woods, with vineyards, and with harvests 

crown'd. 240 

There long the chief his happy lot possess'd 
With two brave sons and one fair daughter bless' d 
(Fair ev'n in heav'nly eyes; her fruitful love 
Crown'd with Sarpedon's birth th' embrace of Jove); 
But when at last, distracted in his mind, 245 

Forsook by heav'n, forsaking human kind, 

229. Amazons'. A race of warlike women. 



BOOK VI 11 

Wide o'er th' Aleian field he chose to stray, 

A long, forlorn, uncomfortable way! 

Woes heaped on woes consumed his wasted heart; 

His beauteous daughter fell by Phoebe's dart; 250 

His eldest-born by raging Mars was slain, 

In combat on the Solymsean plain. 

Hippolochus survived; from him I came, 

The honored author of my birth and name; 

By his decree I sought the Trojan town, 255 

By his instructions learn to win renown; 

To stand the first in worth as in command, 

To add new honors to my native land, 

Before my eyes my mighty sires to place, 

And emulate the glories of our race." 260 

He spoke, and transport filled Tydides' heart; 
In earth the generous warrior fiVd his dart; 
Then friendly, thus, the Lycian prince addressed: 
" Welcome, my brave hereditary guest! 
Thus ever let us meet, with kind embrace, 265 

Nor stain the sacred friendship of our race. 
Know, chief, our grandsires have been guests of old, 
CEneus the strong, Bellerophon the bold; 
Our ancient seat his honored presence graced, 
Where twenty days in genial rites he passed. 270 

The parting heroes mutual presents left: 
A golden goblet was thy grandsire's gift; 
(Eneus a belt of matchless work bestowed, 
That rich with Tyrian dye refulgent glowed 
(This from his pledge I learned, which, safely stor'd 
Among my treasures, still adorns my board: 276 

247. Aleian field. This expression properly means the " wandering plain," 
a name derived from the melancholy wanderings* of Bellerophon there after he 
had lost his children. 

350, Phoebe, Diana. The goddess who caused the sudden death of women. 



72 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

For Tydeus left me young, when Thebe's wall 

Beheld the sons of Greece untimely fall). 

Mindful of this, in friendship let us join; 

If heav'n our steps to foreign lands incline, 280 

My guest in Argos thou, and I in Lycia thine. 

Enough of Trojans to this lance shall yield, 

In the full harvest of yon ample field; 

Enough of Greeks shall dye thy spear with gore; 

But thou and Diomed be foes no more. 285 

Now change we arms, and prove to either host 

We guard the friendship of the line we boast." 

Thus having said, the gallant chiefs alight, 
Their hands they join, their mutual faith they 

plight; 
Brave Glaucus then each narrow thought resigned 290 
(Jove warm'd his bosom and enlarged his mind) : 
For Diomed's brass arms, of mean device, 
For which nine oxen paid (a vulgar price). 
He gave his own, of gold divinely wrought: 
A hundred beeves the shining purchase bought. 295 

Meantime the guardian of the Trojan state, 
Great Hector, entered at the Scsean gate. 
Beneath the beech tree's consecrated shades, 
The Trojan matrons and the Trojan maids 
Around him flock'd, all press'd with pious care 300 
For husbands, brothers, sons, engaged in war. 



295. " Glaucus, it is observed, hearing Diomed speak of the liberality shown by 
Bellerophon to (Eneus, determined not to fall below the example of his ancestor, 
and therefore consented to an exchange so very unequal." — Cowper. This is 
an ingenious explanation of this incongruous passage, which seems such a 
burlesque and inappropriate ending to a beautiful episode. 

297. the Scaean gates were on the southwest side of Troy. 

300. pious, here used in the sense of the Latin " pius," denoting not merely 
duty toward heaven, but affection on the part of the Trojan women for their 
husbands eugaguti in the war, 



BOOK VI IS 

He bids the train in long procession go, 
And seek the gods, t' avert th' impending woe. 
And now to Priam's stately courts he came, 
Kais'd on arched columns of stupendous frame; 305 
O'er these a range of marble structure runs, 
The rich pavilions of his fifty sons, 
In fifty chambers lodged: and rooms of state 
Opposed to those, where Priam's daughters sate: 
Twelve domes for them and their lov'd spouses 
shone, 310 

Of equal beauty and of polish'd stone. 
Hither great Hector passed, nor passed unseen 
Of royal Hecuba, his mother queen 
(With her Laodice, whose beauteous face 
Surpassed the nymphs of Troy's illustrious race). 315 
Long in a strict embrace she held her son, 
And press'd his hand, and tender thus begun: 
" Hector! say, what great occasion calls 
My son from fight, when Greece surrounds our walls? 
Com'st thou to supplicate th' almighty pow'r, 320 

With lifted hands from Ilion's lofty tow'r? 
Stay, till I bring the cup with Bacchus crown'd, 
In Jove's high name, to sprinkle on the ground, 
And pay due vows to all the gods around. 
Then with a plenteous draught refresh thy soul, 325 
And draw new spirits from the gen'rous bowl; 
Spent as thou art with long laborious fight, 
The brave defender of thy country's right." 



303. to avert, note the slurred syllable ; also in the same line, the impend- 
ing woe. 

308. This seems to mean that the chambers of the sons were in the main 
palace, while the " domes " were roofed buildings having a different site. 

322. with Bacchus crowned, filled to the brim with wine. Bacchus, the 
wine-god, is not mentioned in the Greek; "honey-sweet wine" is Homer's 
rendering. 



74 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

".Far hence be Bacchus' gifts" (the chief re- 
joined); 
" Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind, 330 

Unnerves the limbs, and dulls the noble mind. 
Let chiefs abstain, and spare the sacred juice 
To sprinkle to the gods, its better use. 
By me that holy office were profaned; 
111 fits it me, with human gore distant d, 335 

To the pure skies these horrid hands to raise, 
Or offer heav'n's great sire polluted praise. 
You, with your matrons, go, a spotless train! 
And burn rich odors in Minerva's fane. 
The largest mantle your full wardrobes hold, 340 

Most prized for art, and labored o'er with gold, 
Before the goddess' honor'd knees be spread, 
And twelve young heifers to her altar led. 
So may the pow'r, aton'd by fervent pray'r, 
Our wives, our infants, and our city spare, 345 

And far avert Tydides' wasteful ire, 
Who mows whole troops, and makes all Troy retire. 
Be this, mother, your religious care; 
I go to rouse soft Paris to the war: 
If yet, not lost to all the sense of shame, 350 

The recreant warrior hear the voice of fame. 
Oh would kind earth the hateful wretch embrace, 
That pest of Troy, that ruin of our race! 
Deep to the dark abyss might he descend, 
Troy yet should flourish, and my sorrows end." 355 



334. It would be impious iu me to pour out an offering to Heaven with blood- 
stained hands. 

349. soft. The epithet is put in by Pope. It refers to the indolence and 
indifference of Paris. His heart is not in the war, though he is willing to take 
an occasional part in it. 

3.~0. In hopes that he is not yet lost to shame, but may listen to my advice. 

351. recreant, lira means apostate, then coward, 



BOOK VI 75 

This heard, she gave command; and summoned came 
Each noble matron and illustrious dame. 
The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went, 
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent. 
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art, 360 

Sidonian maids embroidered ev'ry part, 
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore, 
With Helen touching on the Tyrian shore. 
Here as the queen revolved with careful eyes 
The various textures and the various dyes, 365 

She chose a veil that shone superior far, 
And glow'd refulgent as the morning star. 
Herself with this the long procession leads; 
The train majestically slow proceeds. 
Soon as to Ilion's topmost tow'r they come, 370 

And awful reach the high Palladian dome, 
Antenor's consort, fair Theano, waits 
As Pallas' priestess, and unbars the gates. 
With hands uplifted and imploring eyes, 
They fill the dome with supplicating cries. 375 

The priestess then the shining veil displays, 
Placed on Minerva's knees, and thus she prays: 

" awful goddess! ever-dreadful maid, 
Troy's strong defense, unconquer'd Pallas, aid! 
Break thou Tydides' spear, and let him fall 380 

Prone on the dust before the Trojan wall. 
So twelve young heifers, guiltless of the yoke, 
Shall fill thy temple with a grateful smoke. 

369. This line well describes the slow, measured march of a procession. 
371. Palladian dome, " Minerva's fane." 

375. The usual cry uttered when the victim was slain: in the present instance, 
when the robe was offered. 

381. Prone, headlong. 

382. The sacrifice was only promised on condition that Minerva showed her 
sympathy with Troy. 

guiltless of the yoke, and therefore an offering meet for the gods. 

383. grateful, pleasing. 



76 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

But thou, aton'd by penitence and pray'r, 

Ourselves, our infants, and our city spare! " 385 

So prayed the priestess in her holy fane: 

So vow'd the matrons, but they vow'd in vain. 

While these appear before the pow'r with pray'rs, 
Hector to Paris' lofty dome repairs. 
Himself the mansion raised, from every part 390 

Assembling architects of matchless art. 
Near Priam's court and Hector's palace stands 
The pompous structure, and the town commands, 
A spear the hero bore of wond'rous strength: 
Of full ten cubits was the lance's length; 395 

The steely point, with golden ringlets join'd, 
Before him brandish'd, at each motion shin'd. 
Thus ent'ring, in the glitt'ring rooms he found 
His brother-chief, whose useless arms lay round, 
His eyes delighting with their splendid show, 400 

Bright'ning the shield, and polishing the bow. 
Beside him Helen with her virgins stands, 
Guides their rich labors, and instructs their hands. 

Him thus inactive, with an ardent look 
The prince beheld, and high-resenting spoke: 405 

" Thy hate to Troy is this the time to show 
(0 wretch ill-fated and thy country's foe)? 
Paris and Greece against us both conspire, 
Thy close resentment, and their vengeful ire. 



389. repairs, proceeds. From a Low Latin word " repatriare," meaning to go 
back to one's country. 

Paris is portrayed as a man of culture; his house and arms are of the 
best. 

395. ten cubits, about sixteen feet. This seems exaggerated, but is probably 
not so, as in Xenophon's Anabasis we find the Chalybes using spears twenty- 
two feet long. The golden ringlets were probably the lashing of gold wire to 
prevent the shaft from splitting. 

403. The labors of the loom. 

409. Possibly Paris believed the Trojans intended to give him up to the 
Greeks. 



BOOK VI. 11 

For thee great Ilion's guardian heroes fall, 410 

Till heaps of dead alone defend her wall; 

For thee the soldier bleeds, the matron mourns, 

And wasteful war in all its fury burns. 

Ungrateful man! deserves not this thy care, 

Our troops to hearten and our toils to share? 415 

Eise, or behold the conquering flames ascend, 

And all the Phrygian glories at an end." 

"Brother, 'tis just" (replied the beauteous youth); 
" Thy free remonstrance proves thy worth and truth: 
Yet charge my absence less, generous chief, 420 

On hate to Troy than conscious shame and grief: 
Here, hid from human eyes, thy brother sate, 
And mourned in secret his and Ilion's fate. 
'Tis now enough: now glory spreads her charms, 
And beauteous Helen calls her chief to arms. 425 

Conquest to-day my happier sword may bless, 
'Tis man's to fight, but heav'n's to give success. 
But while I arm, contain thy ardent mind; 
Or go, and Paris shall not lag behind." 

He said, nor answered Priam's warlike son; 430 

When Helen thus with lowly grace begun: 

" gen'rous brother! if the guilty dame 
That caus'd these woes deserve a sister's name! 
Would heav'n, ere all these dreadful deeds were done, 
The day that show'd me to the golden sun 435 



419. Paris does not really answer Hector's speech. Instead of admitting that 
he ought to take a leading: share in a war of which he was himself the prime 
cause, he merely remarks that, though unsuccessful in his latest attempt 
against Menelaus, he is thinking of trying again, in hopes of better fortune. 

428. contain, restrain your fiery spirit. 

432. Homer portrays Helen as suffering the inevitable punishment for her 
crime. She despises herself, and has learned to despise the man for whom she 
deserted her husband. Note the contrast in this book between the " miserable 
doom" of Helen and Paris, and the touching episode of Hector and Andromache. 
Book VI. has been well described as a moral epic. 



18 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Had seen my death! Why did not whirlwinds bear 

The fatal infant to the fowls of air? 

Why sunk I not beneath the whelming tide, 

And midst the roarings of the waters died? 

Heav'n flll'd up all my ills, and I accurst 440 

Bore all, and Paris of those ills the worst. 

Helen at least a braver spouse might claim, 

Warm'd with some virtue, some regard of fame! 

Now, tir'd with toils, thy fainting limbs recline, 

With toils sustained for Paris' sake and mine: 445 

The gods have link'd our miserable doom, 

Our present woe and infamy to come: 

Wide shall it spread, and last through ages long, 

Examples sad! and theme of future song! " 

The chief replied: " This time forbids to rest: 450 
The Trojan bands, by hostile fury press'd, 
Demand their Hector, and his arm require; 
The combat urges, and my soul's on fire. 
Urge thou thy knight to march where glory calls, 
And timely join me, e'er I leave the walls. 455 

E'er yet I mingle in the direful fray, 
My wife, my infant, claim a moment's stay; 
This day (perhaps the last that sees me here) 
Demands a parting word, a tender tear: 
This day some god who hates our Trojan land 460 

May vanquish Hector by a Grecian hand." 

He said, and pass'd with sad presaging heart 
To seek his spouse, his soul's far dearer part; 
At home he sought her, but he sought in vain: 
She, with one maid of all her menial train, 465 



458 Hector's forebodings were well grounded ; he never entered the city 
a°;aiii. 
462. presaging, foretelling. 



BOOK VI 79 

Had thence retired; and, with her second joy, 

The young Astyanax, the hope of Troy, 

Pensive she stood on Ilion^s tow'ry height, 

Beheld the war, and sickened at the sight; 

There her sad eyes in vain her lord explore, 470 

Or weep the wounds her bleeding country bore. 

But he who found not whom his soul desired, 
Whose virtue charmed him as her beauty fiYd, 
Stood in the gates, and ask'd what way she bent 
Her parting steps; if to the fane she went, 475 

Where late the mourning matrons made resort, 
Or sought her sisters in the Trojan court. 
" Not to the court " (replied th' attendant train), 
"Nor, mix'd with matrons, to Minerva's fane: 
To Ilion's steepy tow'r she bent her way, 430 

To mark the fortunes of the doubtful day. 
Troy fled, she heard, before the Grecian sword; 
She heard, and trembled for her distant lord: 
Distracted with surprise, she seemed to fly, 
Fear on her cheek and sorrow in her eye. 485 

The nurse attended with her infant boy, 
• The young Astyanax, the hope of Troy." 

Hector, this heard, returned without delay; 
Swift through the town he trod his former way, 
Through streets of palaces and walks of state, 490 

And met the mourner at the Scaean gate. 



472. Hector's character is that of a noble-minded patriot, as well as an affec- 
tionate husband and father. He goes back to the war, knowing that he is to 
die in arms for his city, and his only grief is the thought of the sufferings of 
Andromache after his death. 

488. The following, describing the parting of Hector and Andromache, is 
probably the most admired part of the Iliad. 

491. Hector first went to his home to seek Andromache, but hearing that she 
had hastened to the wall to watch the battle, he turned back toward the Scaean 
gates without waiting for her. Meanwhile Andromache had probably been 
told that Hector was looking for her at the palace, and leaving the wall, she 
met him on his way to the field, 



80 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

With haste to meet him sprung the joyful fair, 

His blameless wife, Eetion's wealthy heir 

(Cilician Thebe great Eetion sway'd, 

And Hippoplaeus' wide-extended shade): 495 

The nurse stood near, in whose embraces press'd 

His only hope hung smiling at her breast, 

Whom each soft charm and early grace adorn, 

Fair as the new-born star that gilds the morn. 

To this lov'd infant Hector gave the name 500 

Scamandrius, from Scamander's honored stream; 

Astyanax the Trojans calPd the boy, 

From his great father, the defense of Troy. 

Silent the warrior smiPd, and pleas'd, resigned 

To tender passions all his mighty mind: 505 

His beauteous princess cast a mournful look, 

Hung on his hand, and then dejected spoke; 

Her bosom labor'd with a boding sigh, 

And the big tear stood trembling in her eye. 

" Too daring prince! ah whither dost thou run? 510 
Ah too forgetful of thy wife and son! 
And think'st thou not how wretched we shall be, 
A widow I, a helpless orphan he! 
For sure such courage length of life denies, 
And thou must fall, thy virtue's sacrifice. 515 

Greece in her single heroes strove in vain; 
Now hosts oppose thee, and thou must be slain! 
Oh grant me, gods! e'er Hector meets his doom, 
All I can ask of heav'n, an early tomb! 
So shall my days in one sad tenor run, 520 

And end with sorrows as they first begun. 



502. Astyanax, prince of the city. 

515. You are doomed to die the victim of your own courage. 



82 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

No parent now remains, my griefs to share, 

No father's aid, no mother's tender care. 

The fierce Achilles wrapt our walls in fire, 

Laid Thebe waste, and slew my warlike sire! 525 

His fate compassion in the victor bred; 

Stern as he was, he yet revered the dead, 

His radiant arms preserved from hostile spoil, 

And laid him decent on the fun'ral pile; 

Then raised a mountain where his bones were burned: 

The mountain nymphs the rural tomb adorn'd; 531 

Jove's sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow 

A barren shade, and in his honor grow. 

" By the same arm my seven brave brothers fell; 
In one sad day beheld the gates of hell: 535 

While the fat herds and snowy flocks they fed, 
Amid their fields the hapless heroes bled! 
My mother liv'd to bear the victor's bands, 
The queen of Hippoplacia's sylvan lands: 
Eedeem'd too late, she scarce beheld again 540 

Her pleasing empire and her native plain, 
When, ah! oppressed by life-consuming woe, 
She fell a victim to Diana's bow. 

" Yet while my Hector still survives, I see 
My father, mother, brethren, all, in thee: 545 

Alas! my parents, brothers, kindred, all 
Once more will perish if my Hector fall. 
Thy wife, thy infant, in thy danger share: 
Oh prove a husband's and a father's care! 
That quarter most the skillful Greeks annoy, 550 

Where yon wild fig trees join the wall of Troy: 

534. The brothers were slain while tending the herds. Homer's epithet here 
for the oxen, which Pope omits, is " shambling-gaited." 

549. Show that von possess a proper regard for your wife and child, by not 
exposing yourself so rashly. 



BOOK VI 83 

Thou from this tow'r defend th' important post. 

There Agamemnon points his dreadful host, 

That pass Tydides, Ajax, strive to gain, 

And there the vengeful Spartan fires his train. 555 

Thrice our bold foes the fierce attack have giv'n, 

Or led by hopes, or dictated from heav'n. 

Let others in the field their arms employ, 

But stay my Hector here, and guard his Troy." 

The chief replied: " That post shall be my care, 560 
Nor that alone, but all the works of war. 
How would the sons of Troy, in arms renowned, 
And Troy's proud dames, whose garments sweep the 

ground, 
Attaint the luster of my former name, 
Should Hector basely quit the field of fame? 565 

My early youth was bred to martial pains, 
My soul impels me to th' embattled plains: 
Let me be foremost to defend the throne, 
And guard my father's glories and my own. 
Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates 570 

(How my heart trembles while my tongue relates!): 
The day when thou, imperial Troy! must bend, 
And see thy warriors fall, thy glories end. 
And yet no dire presage so wounds my mind, 
My mother's' death, the ruin of my kind, 575 

Not Priam's hoary hairs defil'd with gore, 
Not all my brothers gasping on the shore, 
As thine, Andromache! thy griefs I dread: 
I see thee trembling, weeping, captive led! 



557. Notice the accent upon the last syllable of " dictated." 

572. Agamemnon uses these very words after the wounding of Menelaus by 

Pandarus. 
579. Andromache was said to have been taken by Neoptolemus, son of 

Achilles. 



84 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

In Argive looms our battles to design, 580 

And woes of which so large a part was thine! 

To bear the victor's hard commands, or bring 

The weight of waters from Hyperia's spring. 

There, while you groan beneath the load of life, 

They cry, ' Behold the mighty Hector's wife! ' 585 

Some haughty Greek, who lives thy tears to see, 

Embitters all thy woes by naming me. 

The thoughts of glory past and present shame, 

A thousand griefs, shall waken at the name! 

May I lie cold before that dreadful day, 590 

Pressed with a load of monumental clay! 

Thy Hector, wrapped in everlasting sleep, 

Shall neither hear thee sigh, nor see thee weep." 

Thus having spoke, th' illustrious chief of Troy 
Stretched his fond arms to clasp the lovely boy. 595 
The babe clung crying to his nurse's breast, 
Scar'd at the dazzling helm and nodding crest. 
With secret pleasure each fond parent smiPd, 
And Hector hasted to relieve his child; 
The glittering terrors from his brows unbound, 600 
And placed the beaming helmet on the ground. 
Then kiss'd the child, and, lifting high in air, 
Thus to the gods preferred a father's pray'r: 

" thou! whose glory fills th' ethereal throne, 
And all ye deathless powers! protect my son! 605 

Grant him, like me, to purchase just renown, 
To guard the Trojans, to defend the crown, 



583. Hyperia was a fountain near Pherae, in Thessaly. 

603. He offered to Heaven such a prayer as a father might for his son. 

606. purchase, gain, acquire ; not necessarily connected, as in modern 
usage, with buying. 

607. There is a play upon the name Astyanax, and the Greek word for ruling. 
May he rule, a prince, even as his nuines implies,, 



book: vi 85 

Against his country's foes the war to wage, 

And rise the Hector of the future age! 

So when, triumphant from successful toils, 610 

Of heroes slain he bears the reeking spoils, 

Whole hosts may hail him with deserved acclaim, 

And say, ' This chief transcends his father's fame 9 : 

While pleas'd, amidst the gen'ral shouts of Troy, 

His mother's conscious heart o'erflows with joy." 615 

He spoke, and fondly gazing on her charms, 
Eestor'd the pleasing burthen to her arms; 
Soft on her fragrant breast the babe she laid, 
Hush'd to repose, and with a smile survey'd. 
The troubled pleasure soon chastis'd by fear, 620 

She mingled with the smile a tender tear. 
The soften'd chief with kind compassion view'd, 
And dried the falling drops, and thus pursued: 

" Andromache! my soul's far better part, 
Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart? 625 

No hostile hand can antedate my doom, 
Till fate condemns me to the silent tomb. 
Fix'd is the term to all the race of earth, 
And such the hard condition of our birth. 
No force can then resist, no flight can save; 630 

All sink alike, the fearful and the brave. 
No more — but hasten to thy tasks at home, 
There guide the spindle, and direct the loom: 
Me glory summons to the martial scene, 
The field of combat is the sphere for men. 635 

626. antedate, no hostile hand can send me to death before my destiny 
permits it. For other instances of fatalism in Homer, compare the description 
of Amphius in Book V. : 

" But fate resistless from his country led 
The chief, to perish at his people's head." 
Also Book XVI. : " Hector flies ; 

Patroclus shakes his lance, but fate denies." 



86 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Where heroes war, the foremost place I claim, 
The first in danger as the first in fame." 

Thus having said, the glorious chief resumes 
His tow'ry helmet, black with shading plumes. 
His princess parts with a prophetic sigh, 640 

Unwilling parts, and oft reverts her eye, 
That streamed at ev'ry look: then, moving slow, 
Sought her own palace, and indulged her woe. 
There, while her tears deplored the godlike man, 
Through all her train the soft infection ran: 645 

The pious maids their mingled sorrow shed, 
And mourn the living Hector as the dead. 

But now, no longer deaf to honor's call, 
Forth issues Paris from the palace wall. 
In brazen arms that cast a gleamy ray, 650 

Swift through the town the warrior bends his way. 
The wanton courser thus, with reins unbound, 
Breaks from his stall, and beats the trembling 

ground; 
Pamper'd and proud, he seeks the wonted tides, 
And laves, in height of blood, his shining sides: 655 
His head, now freed, he tosses to the skies; 
His mane disheveled o'er his shoulders flies; 
He snuffs the females in the distant plain, 
And springs, exulting, to his fields again. 
With equal triumph, sprightly, bold, and gay, 660 

In arms refulgent as the god of day, 
The son of Priam, glorying in his might, 
Rush'd forth with Hector to the fields of fight. 



643. indulged her woe, enjoyed the luxury of grief, gave way to her tears. 

645. the soft infection ran. The example of Andromache's sorrow was 
contagions ; all her handmaidens were already mourning Hector's death by 
anticipation. 

655. in height of blood, with a high spirit, exultiiigly. 



BOOK VI 87 

And now the warriors passing on the way, 
The graceful Paris first excused his stay. 665 

To whom the noble Hector thus replied: 
" chief, in blood, and now in arms, allied! 
Thy pow'r in war with justice none contest; 
Known is thy courage and thy strength confessed. 
What pity, sloth should seize a soul so brave, 670 

Or godlike Paris live a woman's slave! 
My heart weeps blood at what the Trojans say, 
And hopes thy deeds shall wipe the stain away. 
Haste then, in all their glorious labors share; 
For much they suffer, for thy sake, in war. 675 

These ills shall cease, whene'er by Jove's decree 
We crown the bowl to Heav'n and Liberty: 
While the proud foe his frustrate triumphs mourns, 
And Greece indignant through her seas returns." 



BOOK VII 

THE SINGLE COMBAT OF HECTOR AND AJAX 

The battle renewing with double ardor upon the return of 
Hector, Minerva is under apprehensions for the Greeks. Apollo, 
seeing her descend from Olympus, joins her near the Scsean gate. 
They agree to put off the general engagement for that day, and 
incite Hector to challenge the Greeks to a single combat. Nine 
of the princes accepting the challenge, the lot is cast, and falls 
upon Ajax. These heroes, after several attacks, are parted by 
the night. The Trojans calling a council, Antenor proposes the 
delivery of Helen to the Greeks, to which Paris will not consent, 
but offers to restore them her riches. Priam sends a herald to 
make this offer, and to demand a truce for burning the dead, the 
last of which only is agreed to by Agamemnon. When the 
funerals are performed, the Greeks, pursuant to the advice of 
Nestor, erect a fortification to protect their fleet and camp, flanked 
with towers, and defended by a ditch and palisades. Neptune 
testifies his jealousy at this work, but is pacified by a promise 
from Jupiter. Both armies pass the night in feasting, but Jupiter 
disheartens the Trojans with thunder and other signs of his wrath. 

The three-and-twentieth day ends with the duel of Hector and 
Ajax ; the next day the truce is agreed : another is taken up in 
the funeral rites of the slain ; and one more in building the forti- 
fication before the ships ; so that somewhat above three days is 
employed in this book. The scene lies wholly in the field. 

BOOK VIII 

THE SECOND BATTLE AND THE DISTRESS OF THE GREEKS 

Jupiter assembles a council of the deities, and threatens them 
with the pains of Tartarus, if they assist either side : Minerva 
only obtains of him that she may direct the Greeks by her coun- 



BOOK IX 89 

sels. The armies join battle ; Jupiter on Mount Ida weighs in 
his balances the fates of both, and affrights the Greeks with his 
thunders and lightnings. Nestor alone continues in the field in 
great danger ; Diomed relieves him, whose exploits, and those of 
Hector, are excellently described. Juno endeavors to animate 
Neptune to the assistance of the Greeks, but in vain. The acts 
of Teucer, who is at length wounded by Hector, and carried off. 
Juno and Minerva prepare to aid the Grecians, but are restrained 
by Iris, sent from Jupiter. The night puts an end to the battle. 
Hector continues in the field (the Greeks being driven to their 
fortifications before the ships), and gives orders to keep the watch 
all night in the camp, to prevent the enemy from re-embarking 
and escaping by flight. They kindle fires through all the field, 
and pass the night under arms. 

The time of seven-and-twenty days is employed from the open- 
ing of the poem to the end of this book. The scene here (except 
of the celestial machines) lies in the field toward the sea-shore. 



BOOK IX 

THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES 

Agamemnon, after the last day's defeat, proposes to the Greeks 
to quit the siege, and return to their country. Diomed opposes 
this, and Nestor seconds him, praising his wisdom and resolution. 
He orders the guard to be strengthened, and a council summoned 
to deliberate what measures were to be followed in this emer- 
gency. Agamemnon pursues this advice, and Nestor farther 
prevails upon him to send ambassadors to Achilles, in order to 
move to a reconciliation. Ulysses and Ajax are made choice of, 
who are accompanied by old Phoenix. They make, each of them, 
very moving and pressing speeches, but are rejected with rough- 
ness by Achilles, who notwithstanding retains Phcenix in his 
tent. The ambassadors return unsuccessfully to the camp, and 
the troops betake themselves to sleep. 

This book, and the next following, take up the space of one 
night, which is the twenty-seventh from the beginning of the 
poem. The scene lies on the sea-shore, the station of the Grecian 
ships, 



90 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 



BOOK X 

THE NIGHT ADVENTURES OF DIOMED AND ULYSSES 

Upon the refusal of Achilles to return to the army, the distress 
of Agamemnon is described in the most lively manner. He takes 
no rest that night, but passes through the camp, awaking the 
leaders, and contriving all possible methods for the public safety. 
Menelaus, Nestor, Ulysses, and Diomed are employed in raising 
the rest of the captains. They call a council of war, and deter- 
mine to send scouts into the enemy's camp, to learn their posture, 
and discover their intentions. Diomed undertakes this hazardous 
enterprise, and makes choice of Ulysses for his companion. In 
their passage they surprise Dolon, whom Hector had sent on a 
like design to the camp of the Grecians. From him they are 
informed of the situation of the Trojan and auxiliary forces, and 
particularly of Rhesus and the Thracians who were lately arrived. 
They pass on with success, kill Rhesus with several of his officers, 
and seize the famous horses of that prince, with which they 
return in triumph to the camp. 

The same night continues ; the scene lies in the two camps. 

BOOK XI 

THE THIRD BATTLE AND THE ACTS OF AGAMEMNON 

Agamemnon, having armed himself, leads the Grecians to 
battle ; Hector prepares the Trojans to receive them ; while 
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva give the signals of war. Agamemnon 
bears all before him ; and Hector is commanded by Jupiter (who 
sends Iris for that purpose) to decline the engagement, till the 
king should be wounded and retire from the field. He then 
makes a great slaughter of the enemy ; Ulysses and Diomed put 
a stop to him for a time ; but the latter being wounded by Paris, 
is obliged to desert his companion, who is encompassed by the 
Trojans, wounded, and in the utmost danger, till Menelaus and 
Ajax rescue him. Hector comes against Ajax, but that hero 
alone opposes multitudes and rallies the Greeks. In the mean- 
time Machaon, in the other wing of the army, is pierced with an 



BOOK XIII 91 

arrow by Paris, and carried from the fight in Nestor's chariot. 
Achilles (who overlooked the action from his ship) sends Patroclus 
to inquire which of the Greeks was wounded in that manner. 
Nestor entertains him in his tent with an account of the accidents 
of the day, and a long recital of some former wars which he had 
remembered, tending to put Patroclus upon persuading Achilles 
to fight for his countrymen, or at least to permit him to do it clad 
in Achilles' armor. Patroclus in his return meets Eurypylus, also 
wounded, and assists him in that distress. 

This book opens with the eight-and-twentieth day of the poem ; 
and the same day, with its various actions and adventures, is 
extended through the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, 
sixteenth, seventeenth, and part of the eighteenth books. The 
scene lies in the field near the monument of Ilus. 

BOOK XII 

THE BATTLE AT THE GRECIAN WALL 

The Greeks being retired into their intrenchments, Hector 
attempts to force them ; but it proving impossible to pass the 
ditch, Polydamas advises to quit their chariots and manage the 
attack on foot. The Trojans follow his counsel, and having 
divided their army into five bodies of foot, begin the assault. 
But upon the signal of an eagle with a serpent in his talons, 
which appeared on the left hand of the Trojans, Polydamas 
endeavors to withdraw them again. This Hector opposes, and 
continues the attack ; in which, after many actions, Sarpedon 
makes the first breech in the wall : Hector also, casting a stone of 
a vast size, forces open one of the gates, and enters at the head of 
his troops, who victoriously pursue the Grecians even to their 
ships. 

BOOK XIII 

THE FOURTH BATTLE CONTINUED, IN WHICH NEPTUNE ASSISTS 
THE GREEKS : THE ACTS OF IDOMENEUS 

Neptune, concerned for the loss of the Grecians, upon seeing 
the fortification forced by Hector (who had entered the gate near 
the station of the Ajaxes), assumes the shape of Chalcas, and 



92 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

inspires those heroes to oppose him ; then, in the form of one of 
the generals, encourages the other Greeks, who had retired to 
their vessels. The Ajaxes form their troops into a close phalanx, 
and put a stop to Hector and the Trojans. Several deeds of valor 
are performed ; Meriones, losing his spear in the encounter, 
repairs to seek another at the tent of Idomeneus ; this occasions a 
conversation between these two warriors, who return together to 
the battle. Idomeneus signalizes his courage above the rest ; he 
kills Othryoneus, Asius, and Alcathous ; Deiphobus and iEneas 
march against him, and at length Idomeneus retires. Menelaus 
wounds Helenus, and kills Pisander. The Trojans are repulsed 
in the left wing. Hector still keeps his ground against the 
Ajaxes, till, being galled by the Locrian slingers and archers, 
Polydamas advises to call a council of war : Hector approves his 
advice, but goes first to rally the Trojans ; upbraids Paris, rejoins 
Polydamas, meets Ajax again, and renews the attack. 

The eight-and-twentieth day still continues. The scene is 
between the Grecian wall and the sea-shore. 

BOOK XIV 

JUNO DECEIVES JUPITER BY THE GIRDLE OF VENUS 

Nestor, sitting at the table with Machaon, is alarmed with the 
increasing clamor of the war, and hastens to Agamemnon : on his 
way he meets that prince with Diomed and Ulysses, whom he 
informs of the extremity of the danger. Agamemnon proposes to 
make their escape by night, which Ulysses withstands ; to which 
Diomed adds his advice, that, wounded as they were, they should 
go forth and encourage the army with their presence ; which 
advice is pursued. Juno, seeing the partiality of Jupiter to the 
Trojans, forms a design to overreach him ; she sets off her charms 
with the utmost care, and (the more surely to enchant him) 
obtains the magic girdle of Venus. She then applies herself to 
the god of Sleep, and with some difficulty persuades him to seal 
the eyes of Jupiter ; this done, she goes to Mount Ida, where the 
god at first sight is ravished with her beauty, sinks in her 
embraces, and is laid asleep. Neptune takes advantage of his 
slumber, and succors the Greeks ; Hector is struck to the ground 
with a prodigious stone by Ajax, and carried off from the battle : 



BOOK XVI 93 

several actions succeed ; till the Trojans, much distressed, are 
obliged to give way ; the lesser Ajax signalizes himself in a par- 
ticular manner. 

BOOK XV 

THE FIFTH BATTLE, AT THE SHIPS ; AND THE ACTS OF AJAX 

Jupiter, awaking, sees the Trojans repulsed from the trenches, 
Hector in a swoon, and Neptune at the head of the Greeks ; he is 
highly incensed at the artifice of Juno, who appeases him by her 
submissions ; she is then sent to Iris and Apollo. Juno, repairing 
to the assembly of the gods, attempts with extraordinary address 
to incense them against Jupiter ; in particular she touches Mars 
with a violent resentment ; he is ready to take arms but is pre- 
vented by Minerva. Iris and Apollo obey the orders of Jupiter; 
Iris commands Neptune to leave the battle, to which, after much 
reluctance and passion, he consents. Apollo reinspires Hector 
with vigor, brings him back to the battle, marches before him 
with his aegis, and turns the fortune of the fight. He breaks 
down great part of the Grecian wall ; the Trojans rush in, and 
attempt to fire the first line of the fleet, but are yet repelled by the 
greater Ajax with a prodigious slaughter. 

BOOK XVI 

THE SIXTH BATTLE ; THE ACTS AND DEATH OF PATROCLUS 

Patroclus (in pursuance of the request of Nestor in the eleventh 
book) entreats Achilles to suffer him to go to the assistance of the 
Greeks with Achilles' troops and armor. He agrees to it, but at 
the same time charges him to content himself with rescuing the 
fleet without farther pursuit of the enemy. The armor, horses, 
soldiers, and officers of Achilles are described. Achilles offers a 
libation for the success of his friend, after which Patroclus leads 
the Myrmidons to battle. The Trojans, at the sight of Patroclus 
in Achilles' armor, taking him for that hero, are cast into the 
utmost consternation : he beats them off from the vessels, Hector 
himself flies, Sarpedon is killed, though Jupiter was averse to his 
fate. Several other particulars of the battle are described, in the 



94 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

heat of which Patroclus, neglecting the orders of Achilles, pur- 
sues the foe to the walls of Troy, where Apollo repulses and dis- 
arms him. Euphorbus wounds him, and Hector kills him ; which 
concludes the book. 

BOOK XVII 

THE SEVENTH BATTLE, FOR THE BODY OF PATROCLUS ; THE 
ACTS OF MENELAUS 

Menelaus, upon the death of Patroclus, defends his body from 
the enemy : Euphorbus, who attempts it, is slain. Hector 
advancing, Menelaus retires; but soon returns with Ajax, and 
drives him off. This Glaucus objects to Hector as a flight, who 
thereupon puts on the armor he had won from Patroclus, and 
renews the battle. The Greeks give way, till Ajax rallies them ; 
^Eneas sustains the Trojans. iEneas and Hector attempt the 
chariot of Achilles, which is borne off by Automedon. The 
horses of Achilles deplore the loss of Patroclus ; Jupiter covers 
his body with a thick darkness ; the noble prayer of Ajax on that 
occasion. Menelaus sends Antilochus to Achilles, with the news 
of Patroclus' death, then returns to the fight, where, though 
attacked with the utmost fury, he and Meriones, assisted by the 
Ajaxes, bear off the body to the ships. 

The time is the evening of the eight-and-twentieth day. The 
scene lies in the fields before Troy. 

BOOK XVIII 

THE GRIEF OF ACHILLES, AND NEW ARMOR MADE HIM BY 
YULCAN 

The news of the death of Patroclus is brought to Achilles by 
Antilochus. Thetis, hearing his lamentations, comes with all her 
sea-nymphs to comfort him. The speeches of the mother and son 
on this occasion. Iris appears to Achilles by the command of 
Juno, and orders him to show himself at the head of the 
intrenchments. The sight of him turns the fortune of the 
day, and the body of Patroclus is carried off by the Greeks. The 
Trojans call a council, where Hector and Polydamas disagree in 



BOOK XX 95 

their opinions ; but the advice of the former prevails, to remain 
encamped in the field. The grief of Achilles over the body of 
Patroclus. 

Thetis goes to the palace of Vulcan, to obtain new arms for her 
son. The description of the wonderful works of Vulcan ; and, 
lastly, that noble one of the shield of Achilles. 

The latter part of the nine-and-twentieth day, and the night 
ensuing, take up this book. The scene is at Achilles' tent on the 
sea shore, from whence it changes to the palace of Vulcan 

BOOK XIX 

THE RECONCILIATION OF ACHILLES AND AGAMEMNON 

Thetis brings her son his armor made by Vulcan. She pre- 
serves the body of his friend from corruption, and commands him 
to assemble the army, to declare his resentment at an end. 
Agamemnon and Achilles are solemnly reconciled ; the speeches, 
presents, and ceremonies on that occasion. Achilles is with great 
difficulty persuaded to refrain from the battle till the troops have 
refreshed themselves, by the advice of Ulysses. The presents are 
conveyed to the tent of Achilles, where Brisei's laments over the 
body of Patroclus. The hero obstinately refuses all repast, and 
gives himself up to lamentations for his friend. Minerva descends 
to strengthen him, by the order of Jupiter. He arms for the 
fight ; his appearance described. He addresses himself to his 
horses, and reproaches them with the death of Patroclus. One of 
them is miraculously endued with voice, and inspired to prophesy 
his fate ; but the hero, not astonished by that prodigy, rushes 
with fury to the combat. 

The thirtieth day. The scene is on the sea-shore. 

BOOK XX 

THE BATTLE OF THE GODS AND THE ACTS OF ACHILLES 

Jupiter, upon Achilles' return to the battle, calls a council of 
the gods, and permits them to assist either party. The terrors of 
the combat described when the deities are engaged. Apollo 
encourages iEneas to meet Achilles. After a long conversation, 



96 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

these two heroes encounter ; but iEneas is preserved by the 
assistance of Neptune. Achilles falls upon the rest of the Tro- 
jans, and is upon the point of killing Hector, but Apollo conveys 
him away in a cloud. Achilles pursues the Trojans with a great 
slaughter. 
The -same day continues. The scene is in the field before Troy. 

BOOK XXI 

THE BATTLE IN THE RIVER SCAMANDER 

The Trojans fly before Achilles, some toward the town, others 
to the river Scamander ; he falls upon the latter with great 
slaughter, takes twelve captives alive, to sacrifice to the shade of 
Patroclus ; and kills Lycaon and Asteropseus. Scamander attacks 
him with all his waves ; Neptune and Pallas assist the hero ; 
Simois joins Scamander ; at length Vulcan, by the instigation 
of Juno, almost dries up the river. This combat ended, the other 
gods engage each other. Meanwhile Achilles continues the 
slaughter, and drives the rest into Troy ; Agenor only makes a 
stand, and is conveyed away in a cloud by Apollo, who (to delude 
Achilles) takes upon him Agenor's shape, and while he pursues 
him in that disguise, gives the Trojans an opportunity of retiring 
into their city. 

The same day continues. The scene is on the banks and in the 
stream of Scamander. 




ANDROMACHE FAINTS ON THE WALL 

BOOK XXII 

THE DEATH OF HECTOR 

The Trojans being safe within the walls, Hector only stays to 
oppose Achilles. Priam is struck at his approach, and tries to 
persuade his son to re-enter the town. Hecuba joins her entreaties, 
but in vain. Hector consults within himself what measures to 
take ; but at the advance of Achilles, his resolution fails him, and 
he flies : Achilles pursues him thrice round the walls of Troy. 
The gods debate concerning the fate of Hector ; at length Minerva 
descends to the aid of Achilles. She deludes Hector in the shape 
of Deiphobus ; he stands the combat, and is slain. Achilles drags 
the dead body at his chariot, in the sight of Priam and Hecuba. 
Their lamentations, tears, and despair. Their cries reach the ears 
of Andromache, who, ignorant of this, was retired into the inner 
part of the palace ; she mounts up to the walls, and beholds her 
dead husband. She swoons at the spectacle. Her excess of grief 
and lamentation. 

The thirtieth day still continues. The scene lies under the 
walls and on the battlements of Troy. 

97 



98 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Thus to their bulwarks, smit with panic fear, 
The herded Ilians rush like driven deer; 
There, safe, they wipe the briny drops away, 
And drown in bowls the labors of the day. 
Close to the walls, advancing o'er the fields 5 

Beneath one roof of well-compacted shields, 
March, bending on, the Greeks' embodied powr's, 
Far-stretching in the shade of Trojan tow'rs. 
Great Hector singly stayed; chained down by fate, 
There fiVd he stood before the Scsean gate, 10 

Still his bold arms determined to employ, 
The guardian still of long-defended Troy. 

Apollo now to tir'd Achilles turns 
(The power confessed in all his glory burns), 
" And what " (he cries) " has PeleuV son in view, 15 
With mortal speed a godhead to pursue? 
For not to thee to know the gods is giVn, 
Unskilled to trace the latent marks of heav'n. 
What boots thee now that Troy forsook the plain? 
Vain thy past labor and thy present vain: 20 



1. " We have now reached the last scene of the great drama of the l Wrath.' 
The fated series of events which sprang from the quarrel of Achilles and 
Agamemnon has reached its climax, and at the same time we feel that a still 
greater matter, the fate of Troy, is virtually settled. But it is in the personal 
contrast of the two heroes, and in the ever present sense that at the back of 
the earthly stasre the counsel of Zeus is directing all, that we trace the supreme 
interest of the book, in its double aspect, human and divine. 

"As befits the close of the story when all the threads converge to the 
climax, the narrative is throughout simple and straightforward. Minor 
episodes are absent, and the whole interest is centered in the two great figures, 
Achilles and Hector." — Leaf. 

1-4. Literally, "Thus they throughout the city, scared like fawns, were 
cooling their sweat, and drinking and slaking their thirst, leaning on the fair 
battlements." 

6. With shields held over their heads as a protection against the missiles 
hurled down on them from the walls. 

14. burns, Homer's Phoebus Apollo, or Apollo of the silver bow, is usually 
translated by Pope " the source of light," or the " god who rules the day." 

16. speed. Homer's usual epithet for Achilles is the " fleet-footed." 
God-head, Homer makes Apollo say to Achilles, " W 7 hy do you purine 
me ? " identifying himself with the city of Troy. 

18. latent, secret. 

20. It was useless to attack the Trojans before, and me r.cw. 



BOOK XXII 99 

Safe in their walls are now her troops bestow'd, 
While here thy frantic rage attacks a god." 

The chief incensed: " Too partial god of day! 
To check my conquests in the middle way: 
How few in Ilion else had refuge found! 25 

What gasping numbers now had bit the ground! 
Thou robb'st me of a glory justly mine, 
Powerful of godhead and of fraud divine: 
Mean fame, alas! for one of heavenly strain, 
To cheat a mortal who repines in vain." 30 

Then to the city, terrible and strong, 
With high and haughty steps he towr'd along: 
So the proud courser, victor of the prize, 
To the near goal with double ardor flies. 
Him, as he blazing shot across the field, 35 

The careful eyes of Priam first beheld. 
Not half so dreadful rises to the sight, 
Through the thick gloom of some tempestuous night, 
Orion's dog (the year when autumn weighs), 
And o'er the feebler stars exerts his rays; 40 

Terrific glory! for his burning breath 
Taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death. 
So flam/d his fiery mail. Then wept the sage; 
He strikes his rev'rend head, now white with age; 
He lifts his withered arms; obtests the skies; 45 

He calls his much-lov'd son with feeble cries. 
The son, resolved Achilles' force to dare, 
Full at the Scsean gates expects the war, 

28. Strong from your position as a god. Achilles accuses Apollo of taking a 
mean advantage, presuming upon his divine power and immunity from punish- 
ment. 

35. Achilles is compared to a meteor darting across the sky. 

39. Orion's dog. The dog-star, Sirius, supposed to have a baneful in- 
fluence, hence the hot days of summer are called " dog-days," 

44. reverend, inspiring respect. 

45. obtests, beseeches, calls to witness. 
48. full, right in front of. 

expects the war, awaits the attack. 



100 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

While the sad father on the rampart stands, 

And thus adjures him with extended hands: 50 

"Ah stay not, stay not! guardless and alone; 
Hector, my lov'd, my dearest, bravest son! 
Methinks already I behold thee slain, 
And stretched beneath that fury of the plain. 
Implacable Achilles! might'st thou be 55 

To all the gods no dearer than to me! 
Thee vultures wild should scatter round the shore, 
And bloody dogs grow fiercer from thy gore! 
How many valiant sons I late enjoy'd, 
Valiant in vain! by thy curs'd arm destroyed : 60 

Or, worse than slaughtered, sold in distant isles 
To shameful bondage and unworthy toils. 
Two, while I speak, my eyes in vain explore, 
Two from one mother sprung, my Polydore 
And loved Lycaon; now perhaps no more! 65 

Oh! if in yonder hostile camp they live, 
What heaps of gold, what treasures .would I give 
(Their grandsire's wealth, by right of birth their own, 
Consigned his daughter with Lelegia's throne) ! 
But if (which heav'n forbid) already lost, 70 

All pale they wander on the Stygian coast, 
What sorrows then must their sad mother know, 
What anguish I! unutterable woe! 
Yet less that anguish, less to her, to me, 
Less to all Troy, if not deprived of thee. 75 



55. If only the gods hated you as I do ! 

57. Vultures. Priam could not have wished worse to his foe than this. 
The dead, deprived of the due funeral rites, might hover for ages on the banks 
of the river Styx in the lower regions waiting for Charon, the ferryman, to 
take them across to the Elysian fields. 

69. his daughter, Laothoe. The way in which she is spoken of— as a 
"princess among women," and as having received a dowry from her royal 
father — clearly shows that she was actually a wife of Priam. Here then is an 
example of polygamy. Lelegia is the land of the Leleges. 



BOOK XXII 101 

Yet shun Achilles! enter yet the wall; 

And spare thyself, thy father, spare us all! 

Save thy dear life: or if a soul so brave 

Neglect that thought, thy dearer glory save. 

Pity, while yet I live, these silver hairs; 80 

While yet thy father feels the woes he bears, 

Yet cursed with sense! a wretch, whom in his rage 

(All trembling on the verge of helpless age) 

Great Jove has placed, sad spectacle cf pain! 

The bitter dregs of fortune's cup to drain: 85 

To fill with scenes of death his closing eyes, 

And number all his days by miseries! 

My heroes slain, my bridal bed o'erturn'd, 

My daughters ravish'd, and my city burn'd, 

My bleeding infants dash'd against the floor, 90 

These I have yet to see, perhaps yet more! 

Perhaps ev'n I, reserved by angry fate 

The last sad relic of my ruin'd state 

(Dire pomp of sovereign wretchedness), must fall 

And stain the pavement of my regal hall, 95 

Where famish'd dogs, late guardians of my door, 

Shall lick their mangled master's spatter'd gore. 

Yet for my sons I thank ye, gods! 'twas well: 

Well have they perish' d, for in fight they fell. 

Who dies in youth in vigor, dies the best, 100 

Struck through with wounds, all honest on the breast. 

But when the fates, in fullness of their rage, 

Spurn the hoar head of unresisting age, 

In dust the rev'rend lineaments deform, 

And pour to dogs the life-blood scarcely warm; 105 

101. honest, a Latinism. Honestus has not, the same meaning as our word 
honest ; it means rather " glorious." Hence the wounds being in front showed 
that the warrior had died fighting, not struck in the back while running away. 

104. deform, disfigure. 



102 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

This, this is misery! the last, the worst, 
That man can feel, man, fated to be curs'd! " 

He said, and acting what no words could say, 
Eent from his head the silver locks away. 
With him the mournful mother bears a part; 110 

Yet all their sorrows turn not Hector's heart: 
The zone unbrac'd, her bosom she displayed; 
And thus, fast-falling the salt tears, she said: 

"Have mercy on me, my son! revere 
The words of age; attend a parent's pray'r! 115 

If ever thee in these fond arms I pressed, 
Or stilPd thy infant clamors at this breast, 
Ah! do not thus our helpless years forego, 
But, by our walls secured, repel the foe. 
Against his rage if singly thou proceed, 120 

Shouldst thou (but heav'n avert it!) shouldst thou bleed, 
Nor must thy corse lie honored on the bier, 
Nor spouse, nor mother, grace thee with a tear; 
Far from our pious rites, those dear remains 
Must feast the vultures on the naked plains." 125 

So they, while down their cheeks the torrents roll: 
But fix'd remains the purpose of his soul; 
Kesolv'd he stands, and with a fiery glance 
Expects the hero's terrible advance. 
So, rolled up in his den, the swelling snake 130 

Beholds the traveler approach the brake, 
When, fed with noxious herbs, his turgid veins 
Have gathered half the poisons of the plains; 

112. The zone unbraced. The woman's robe in the Homeric age was 
fastened over the right shoulder with a brooch. Homer's phrase is tk loosening 
the folds of her robe " (by undoing the brooch). 

113. falling, letting fall. 
115. attend, listen to. 

118. Do not leave us destitute of your aid in our old age. 

132. fed with noxious herbs. It was believed even in classical times that the 
bite of snakes became venomous from the poisonous herbs they ate before 
making their attack. 



BOOK XXII 103 

He burns, he stiffens with collected ire, 

And his red eyeballs glare with living fire. 135 

Beneath a turret, on his shield reclined 

He stood, and questioned thus his mighty mind: 

" Where lies my w^ay? to enter in the wall? 
Honor and shame th' ungenerous thought recall: 
Shall proud Polydamas before the gate 140 

Proclaim, his counsels are obeyed too late, 
Which timely followed but the former night, 
What numbers had been saVd by Hector's flight? 
That wise advice rejected with disdain, 
I feel my folly in my people slain. 145 

Methinks my suffering country's voice I hear; 
But most her worthless sons insult my ear, 
On my rash courage charge the chance of war, 
And blame those virtues which they cannot share. 
N"o! If I e'er return, return I must 150 

Glorious, my country's terror laid in dust: 
Or if I perish, let her see my fall 
In field at least, and fighting for her wall. 
And yet suppose these measures I forego, 
Approach unarm'd, and parley with the foe, 155 

The warrior-shield, the helm, and lance lay down, 
And treat on terms of peace to save the town: 

134. collected ire contains the double idea of accumulated poison and anger. 

140. Polydamas, brother of Hector. He had on more than one occasion 
advocated prudence in the course of the war, and been overruled by Hector, 
and unbraided for cowardice. It was he who prevailed on the Trojans to 
draw up their chariots clear of the trench (Book XII. 1. 69), and on the 
appearance of the eagle and serpent advised his brother to put off tbe attack 
on the ships. In Book XV. 1. 396 Hector exults at having freed himself from 
the coward counsels of a timorous throng, and leads an unsuccessful attack 
upon the ships. 

142. Which advice, if taken in good time only the night before, might have 
saved numbers. 

145. Hector is a true patriot. He has little confidence in surviving the com- 
bat, and is drawn to it by a sense of duty to his city and countrymen. He 
fights and dies to save himself from their reproaches. 

148. charge the chance, lay upon me the blame for what is only the 
fortune of w ar. 



104 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

The wife withheld, the treasure ill-detained 

(Cause of the war and grievance of the land), 

With honorable justice to restore; 160 

And add half Ilion's yet remaining store, 

Which Troy shall, sworn, produce; that injured Greece 

May share our wealth, and leave our walls in peace. 

But why this thought? Unarmed if I should go, 

What hope of mercy from this vengeful foe, 165 

But woman-like to fall, and fall without a blow? 

We greet not here as man conversing man, 

Met at an oak or journeying o'er a plain; 

No season now for calm, familiar talk, 

Like youths and maidens in an evening walk: 170 

War is our business, but to whom is giv'n 

To die or triumph, that determine heav'n! " 

Thus pond'ring, like a god the Greek drew nigh: 
His dreadful plumage nodded from on high; 
The Pelian jav'lin, in his better hand, 175 

Shot trembling rays that glittered o'er the land; 
And on his breast the beamy splendors shone 
Like Jove's own lightning or the rising sun. 
As Hector sees, unusual terrors rise, 
Struck by some god, he fears, recedes, and flies. 180 
He leaves the gates, he leaves the walls behind; 
Achilles follows like the winged wind. 

180. Struck by some God. No god is hinted at in the original. This is 
Pope's protest against the improbability of the great Hector turning and fleeing 
from the epear of an enemy. The inconsistency has long been a puzzle to 
scholars. Mr. Andrew Lang speaks of it as follows : 

"Inaeaga or a chanson de qeste, in an Arthurian romance, in a Border 
ballad, in whatever poem or tale answers in our Northern literature, however 
feebly, to Homer, this flight round the walls of Troy would be an absolute 
impossibility. Under the eyes of his father, his mother, his countrymen, 
Hector flies— the gallant Hector, 'a very perfect gentle knight 1 — from the 
onset of a single foe. Can we fancy Skarphedin, or Gunnar, or Grettir, or 
Olaf Howard's son flying from one enemy ? Can we imagine Lancelot of the 
Lake, who naked held Guinevere's bower against an armed multitude, re- 
treating from before a single knight ? No balladmonger would have been 
believed who said that the Douglas or the Percy turned his back on a foe. 
Assuredly the hearers of the sagas, the audience of the Trouvere who chanted 



BOOK XXII 105 

Thus at the panting dove the falcon flies 

(The swiftest racer of the liquid skies), 

Just when he holds, or thinks he holds, his prey, 185 

Obliquely wheeling through th' aerial way, 

With open beak and shrilling cries he springs, 

And aims his claws, and shoots upon his wings: 

No less fore-right the rapid chase they held, 

One urg'd by fury, one by fear impelPd; 190 

Now circling round the walls their course maintain, 

Where the high watch-tow'r overlooks the plain; 

Now where the fig trees spread their umbrage broad 

(A wider compass), smoke along the road. 

Next by Scamander's double source they bound, 195 

Where two fam'd fountains burst the parted ground: 

This hot through scorching clefts is seen to rise, 

With exhalations streaming to the skies; 

That the green banks in summer's heat overflows, 

Like crystal clear, and cold as winter snows. 200 

Each gushing fount a marble cistern fills, 

Whose polish'd bed receives the falling rills; 

Where Trojan dames (e'er yet alarm'd by Greece) 

Washed their fair garments in the days of peace. 

By these they passed, one chasing, one in flight 205 

(The mighty fled, pursued by stronger might); 

that lost, fight in Roncesvaux, or the readers of Mallory, or Sidney, who loved 
to listen to Chevy Chase from the lips of a blind crowder, would all have re- 
jected the twenty-second book and the story of Hector's flight. We do not, 
of course, reject it. Homer's world, Homer's chivalry, Homer's ideas of 
knightly honor, were all unlike chose of the Christian and the Northern world. 
Roland will not even blow a blast on that dread horn for all the multitudes of 
the paynims. But Hector, the hope of Troy, fled thrice round the walls from 
a single spear." 

184. liquid, clear. 

189. fore-right, straight on. 

194. smoke, raise a clond of dust as they run. 

195. Scamander's double source. The two springs have been the founda- 
tion of the attempts of archaeologists to fix the site of Troy. It is now the 
accepted opinion that the topography of the Iliad is to some extent imaginary, 
and in this case the two springs in question have been proved to exist on the 
slope of Mt. Ida, more than twenty miles away from any possible site of Troy, 



106 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Swift was the course; no vulgar prize they play, 

No vulgar victim must reward the day 

(Such as in races crown the speedy strife): 

The prize contended was great Hector's life. 210 

As when some hero's fun'rals are decreed, 
In grateful honor of the mighty dead, 
Where high rewards the vigorous youth inflame 
(Some golden tripod or some lovely dame), 
The panting coursers swiftly turn the goal, 215 

And with them turns the raised spectator's soul: 
Thus three times round the Trojan wall they fly; 
The gazing gods lean forward from the sky: 
To whom, while eager on the chase they look, 
The sire of mortals and immortals spoke: 220 

" Unworthy sight! the man belov'd of heav'n, 
Behold, inglorious round yon city driven! 
My heart partakes the generous Hector's pain; 
Hector, whose zeal whole hecatombs has slain, 
Whose grateful fumes the gods received with joy, 225 
From Ida's summits and the towers of Troy: 
Now see him flying! to his fears resigned, 
And Fate and fierce Achilles close behind. 
Consult, ye powers ('tis worthy your debate) 
Whether to snatch him from impending fate, 230 

Or let him bear, by stern Pelides slain 
(Good as he is), the lot imposed on man? " 



207. no vulgar prize they play. No common or trifling matter is at stake, 
but Hector's life. 
209. speedy strife, chariot or foot race. 

214. tripod. A tripod was a three-legged stool, sacred because used in 
connection with sacrifices and worship of the gods. The priestess of Apollo 
at Delphi used to deliver her inspired utterances seated on a tripod. 

215. Turn the goal. In the chariot races the competitors had to wheel 
round the goal and back again to the starting-point. 

218. The gods of Olympus are compared to the eager spectators at the games, 
each supporting his own champion. 
225. grateful fumes, the pleasing odor of his sacrifices, 



BOOK XXII 10*7 

Then Pallas thus: " Shall he whose vengeance 
forms 
The forky bolt, and blackens heav'n with storms, 
Shall he prolong one Trojan's forfeit breath! 235 

A man, a mortal, preordained to death! 
And will no murmurs fill the courts above? 
No gods indignant blame their partial Jove? " 

" Go then " (returned the sire), " without delay; 
Exert thy will: I give the fates their way." 240 

Swift at the mandate pleas'd Tritonia flies, 
And stoops impetuous from the cleaving skies. 

As through the forest, o'er the vale and lawn, 
The well-breathed beagle drives the flying fawn: 
In vain he tries the covert of the brakes, 245 

Or deep beneath the trembling thicket shakes: 
Sure of the vapor in the tainted dews, 
The certain hound his various maze pursues. 
Thus step by step, where'er the Trojan wheeled, 
There swift Achilles compass'd round the field. 250 
Oft as to reach the Dardan gates he bends, 
And hopes th' assistance of his pitying friends 
(Whose show'ring arrows, as he cours'd below, 
From the high turrets might oppress the foe), 
So oft Achilles turns him to the plain: 255 

He eyes the city, but he eyes in vain. 



235. forfeit, a past participle. Hector must die, as he ia a mortal, and 
therefore doomed to death ; but he is also condemned as one of the '* perjured 
race." 

238. indignant. The Jupiter of nomer is by no means monarch of all he 
surveys. Serious rebellions had frequently taken place, Juno being especially 
refractory, while Neptune claimed sole power over the ocean. 

238. The partisans of Greece had long suspected that Jupiter had given some 
promise to favor the Trojans. 

242. cleaving. The skies make way before her rapid flight. 

248. The hound scents the fawn, and, unerring, tracks his winding flight. 

254. In hopes that his friends might overpower Achilles with a volley of 
arrows. 



108 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

As men in slumbers seem with speedy pace 

One to pursue and one to lead the chase, 

Their sinking limbs the fancied course forsake, 

Nor this can fly, nor that can overtake: 260 

No less the lab'ring heroes pant and strain, 

While that but flies, and this pursues, in vain. 

What god, Muse! assisted Hector's force, 
With fate itself so long to hold the course? 
Phoebus it was: who, in his latest hour, 265 

Endued his knees with strength, his nerves with pow'r. 
And great Achilles, lest some Greek's advance 
Should snatch the glory from his lifted lance, 
Sign'd to the troops to yield his foe the way, 
And leave untouched the honors of the day. 270 

Jove lifts the golden balances, that show 
The fates of mortal men and things below: 
Here each contending hero's lot he tries, 
And weighs, with equal hand, their destinies. 
Low sinks the scale surcharged with Hector's fate; 275 
Heavy with death it sinks, and hell receives the weight. 

Then Phoebus left him. Fierce Minerva flies 
To stern Pelides, and, triumphing, cries: 
" lov'd of Jove! this day our labors cease, 
And conquest blazes with full beams on Greece. 280 
Great Hector falls; that Hector, fam'd so far, 
Drunk with renown, insatiable of war, 
Falls by thy hand and mine! nor force nor flight 
Shall more avail him nor his god of light. 



257. Note the wonderful variety of Homer's similes ; the inability of Hector 
to escape, or his foe to overtake him, are compared to a nightmare. This is 
the only simile taken from a dream. 

263. O muse. Calliope, muse of epic poetry. Cf. Book I. 1. 1. 

264. To maintain the struggle against Fate itself. 

282. insatiable of war, never satisfied with fighting, ever wanting more. 



BOOK XXII 109 

See, where in vain he supplicates above, 285 

KolPd at the feet of unrelenting Jove! 
Best here: myself will lead the Trojan on, 
And urge to meet the fate he cannot shun." 

Her voice divine the chief with joyful mind 
Obeyed, and rested, on his lance reclined, 290 

While like Deiphobus the martial dame 
(Her face, her gesture, and her arms the same), 
In show and aid, by hapless Hector's side 
Approached, and greets him thus with voice belied: 

" Too long, Hector! have I borne the sight 295 
Of this distress, and sorrowed in thy flight: 
It fits us now a noble stand to make, 
And here, as brothers, equal fates partake." 

Then he: "0 prince! allied in blood and fame, 
Dearer than all that own a brother's name; 300 

Of all that Hecuba to Priam bore, 
Long tried, long lov'd; much lov'd, but honor'd more! 
Since you of all our numerous race alone 
Defend my life, regardless of your own." 

Again the goddess: " Much my father's pray'r, 305 
And much my mother's, press'd me to forbear: 
My friends embrac'd my knees, adjur'd my stay, 
But stronger love impell'd, and I obey. 
Come then, the glorious conflict let us try, 
Let the steel sparkle and the jav'lin fly: 310 

Or let us stretch Achilles on the field, 
Or to his arm our bloody trophies yield." 



291. martial dame. Pope generally styles her the " warlike maid," or the 
"blue-eyed maid." 

292. the same ; i. e., as those of Deiphobus, Hector's brother. 

293. in show an aid, to all appearance an ally. 

307. adjured my stay, besought me to remain at home. 
312. trophies. The word means properly a complete suit of armor set up 
by the Greeks on the spot where they had routed the enemy. 



110 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Fraudful she said; then swiftly march' d before; 
The Dardan hero shuns his foe no more. 
Sternly they met. The silence Hector brcke; 315 

His dreadful plumage nodded as he spoke: 

" Enough, son of Peleus! Troy has view'd 
Her walls thrice circled, and her chief pursu'd. 
But now some god within me bids me try 
Thine or my fate: I kill thee or I die. 320 

Yet on the verge of battle let us stay, 
And for a moment's space suspend the day: 
Let heaven's high powers be calPd to arbitrate 
The just conditions of this stern debate. 
(Eternal witnesses of all below, 325 

And faithful guardians of the treasured vow!) 
To them I swear: if, victor in the strife, 
Jove by these hands shall shed thy noble life, 
No vile dishonor shall thy corse pursue; 
Stripped of its arms alone (the conqueror's due), 330 
The rest to Greece uninjur'd I'll restore: 
Now plight thy mutual oath, I ask no more." 

" Talk not of oaths " (the dreadful chief replies, 
While anger flashed from his disdainful eyes), 
" Detested as thou art and ought to be, 335 

Nor oath nor pact Achilles plights with thee; 
Such pacts as lambs and rabid wolves combine, 
Such leagues as men and furious lions join, 



322. the day, the fight. 

324. Achilles mi^ht he excused from listening to this proposal. It was Hec- 
tor himself who had offered a truce to the Greeks during tlie combat between 
Paris and Menelaus, a truce which had been ratified with most solemn rites ; 
but all was disturbed by the treachery of the Trojan Pandarus, who wounded 
Menelaus with an arrow. 

331. Greece, the Greeks. 

332. plight, pledge me your word in exchange for mine. 

336. pact, agreement. 

337. Just as there can be no truce between lamb and wolf, lion and man, so 
is there eternal hatred between you and me. 



BOOK XXII 111 

To such I call the gods! one constant state 

Of lasting rancor and eternal hate: 340 

No thought but rage and never-ceasing strife, 

Till death extinguish rage, and thought, and life. 

Kouse then thy forces this important hour, 

Collect thy soul, and call forth all thy pow'r. 

No farther subterfuge, no farther chance; 345 

'Tis Pallas, Pallas gives thee to my lance. 

Each Grecian ghost by thee deprived of breath, 

Now hovers round, and calls thee to thy death." 

He spoke, and launched his jav'lin at the foe; 
But Hector shunned the meditated blow; 350 

He stoop'd, while o'er his head the flying spear 
Sung innocent, and spent its force in air. 
Minerva watched it falling on the land, 
Then drew, and gave to great Achilles' hand, 
Unseen of Hector, who, elate with joy, 355 

Now shakes his lance, and braves the dread of Troy. 

" The life you boasted to that javelin, 
Prince! you have missed. My fate depends on heaven. 
To thee (presumptuous as thou art) unknown 
Or what must prove my fortune or thy own. 360 

Boasting is but an art, our fears to blind, 
And with false terrors sink another's mind. 
But know, whatever fate I am to try, 
By no dishonest wound shall Hector die; 

345. subterfuge, no more trickery or attempt at escape. 

352. Sung innocent, whistled harmlessly over his head. 

354. Minerva drew out the spear from the ground in which it had stuck, and 
gave it back to Achilles without Hector seeing it, so that the latter, thinking 
his chance had now come, hurls his own spear, and then rushes on with the 
sword, only to be pierced with the spear of Achilles. 

359. Boastful as you are you know not what is to be my fate, or your own. 

361. Boasting is only an artifice to hide our own fears, and strike them into 
the heart of our foe. 

363. try, experience. 

364. dishonest. Hector shall die with his face to the foe and his wounds in 
front, Cf. above, line 52. 



112 THE ILIAD OF HOMEE 

I shall not fall a fugitive at least, 365 

My soul shall bravely issue from my breast. 

But first, try thou my arm; and may this dart 

End all my country's woes, deep buried in thy heart! " 

The weapon flew, its course unerring held; 
Unerring, but the heav'nly shield repelPd 370 

The mortal dart; resulting with a bound 
From off the ringing orb, it struck the ground. 
Hector beheld his jav'lin fall in vain, 
Nor other lance nor other hope remain; 
He calls Deiphobus, demands a spear, 375 

In vain, for no Deiphobus was there. 
All comfortless he stands: then with a sigh: 
" 'Tis so — heaven wills it, and my hour is nigh! 
I deemed Deiphobus had heard my call, 
But he secure lies guarded in the wall. 380 

A god deceived me; Pallas, 'twas thy deed. 
Death and black fate approach! 'Tis I must bleed. 
No refuge now, no succor from above, 
Great Jove deserts me and the son of Jove, 
Propitious once and kind! Then welcome fate! 385 
"Tis true I perish, yet I perish great: 
Yet in a mighty deed I shall expire, 
Let future ages hear it, and admire! " 

Fierce, at the word, his weighty sword he drew, 
And, all collected, on Achilles flew. 390 

So Jove's bold bird, high-balanc'd in the air, 
Stoops from the clouds to truss the quiv'ring hare. 



366. soul, my life and my life-blood. 

371. mortal, either made by man, as contrasted with the "heavenly" shield 
of Vulcan's handiwork, or in the sense of death-dealing, 
resulting, reb< unding. 
384. son, Apollo. 

390. all collected, gathering all his strength, 
truss, to snatch up in its talons. 



BOOK XXII 113 

Nor less Achilles his fierce soul prepares; 

Before his breast the flaming shield he bears. 

Eefulgent orb! Above his fourfold cone 395 

The gilded horsehair sparkled in the sun, 

Nodding at ev'ry step (Vulcanian frame!); 

And as he mov'd, his figure seem'd on flame. 

As radiant Hesper shines with keener light, 

Far-beaming o'er the silver host of night, 400 

When all the starry train emblaze the sphere: 

So shone the point of great Achilles' spear. 

In his right hand he waves the weapon round, 

Eyes the whole man, and meditates the wound; 

But the rich mail Patroclus lately wore, 405 

Securely cas'd the warrior's body o'er. 

One place at length he spies, to let in fate, 

Where 'twixt the neck and throat the jointed plate 

Gave entrance: through that penetrable part 

Furious he drove the well-directed dart: 410 

Nor pierc'd the windpipe yet, nor took the pow'r 

Of speech, unhappy! from thy dying hour. 

Prone on the field the bleeding warrior lies, 

While thus, triumphing, stern Achilles cries: 

" At last is Hector stretch' d upon the plain, 415 

Who fear'd no vengeance for Patroclus slain: 
Then, prince! you should have fear'd what now you feel; 
Achilles absent was Achilles still. 



395. Refulgent orb, the shining circle of the shield. 

fourfold cone, a helmet with two raised ornaments on either side, sup- 
porting the part in which the crest was fixed. 
397. (Vulcanian frame), for it was made by Vulcan. 
399. Hesper, the evening star. 

401. sphere, the vault of heaven. 

402. Compare the original. *• So flashed there forth a light from the keen spear 
Achilles poised in his right hand, devising mischief against noble Hector, eying 
his fair flesh to find the fittest place." 

404. meditates the wound, thinks where h° shall plant the blow. 



114 THE ILIAD OF HOME! 

Yet a short space the great avenger stay'd, 

Then low in dust thy strength and glory laid. 420 

Peaceful he sleeps, with all our rites adorn'd, 

For ever honor'd and for ever mourn'd; 

While, cast to all the rage of hostile pow'r, 

Thee birds shall mangle and the dogs devour/' 

Then Hector, fainting at th' approach of death: 425 
" By thy own soul! by those who gave thee breath! 
By all the sacred prevalence of pray'r; 
Ah, leave me not for Grecian dogs to tear! 
The common rites of sepulture bestow, 
To soothe a father's and a mother's woe; 430 

Let their large gifts procure an urn at least, 
And Hector's ashes in his country rest." 

"No, wretch accurs'd! " relentless he replies 
(Flames, as he spoke, shot flashing from his eyes), 
'' Not those who gave me breath should bid me spare, 
Nor all the sacred prevalence of pray'r. 436 

Could I myself the bloody banquet join! 
No! to the dogs that carcass I resign. 
Should Troy to bribe me bring forth all her store, 
And, giving thousands, offer thousands more; 440 

Should Dardan Priam and his weeping dame 
Drain their whole realm to buy one fun'ral flame; 
Their Hector on the pile they should not see, 
Nor rob the vultures of one limb of thee." 



427. prevalence, power. . 

429 Homer does not make Hector ask his conqueror to give him due funeral 
rites, but merely to accept the ransom which Priam and Hecuba would surely 
offer in exchange for his body. 

435. My own father and mother could not induce me to spare you. 

437 " This expression of Achilles is not to betaken, as some have supposed, 
in the light of an indication that the idea of cannibalism still lingered in 
Greece. It is, in fact, the utter impossibility of cannibalism which is made the 
strongest asseveration of Hector's fate: k As surely as I cannot eat thee myself, 
so surely the dogs shall eat thee.' '"—Leaf. 



BOOK XXII 115 

Then thus the chief his dying accents drew: 445 
"Thy rage implacable! too well I knew: 
The furies that relentless breast have steel'd, 
And cursed thee with a heart that cannot yield. 
Yet think, a day will come, when fate's decree 
And angry gods shall wreak this wrong on thee; 450 
Phoebus and Paris shall avenge my fate, 
And stretch thee here, before this Scsean gate." 

He ceas'd. The fates suppressed his laboring breath, 
And his eyes stiffened at the hand of death; 
To the dark realm the spirit wings its way 455 

(The manly body left a load of clay), 
And plaintive glides along the dreary coast, 
A naked, wand'ring, melancholy ghost! 

Achilles, musing as he rolPd his eyes 
O'er the dead hero, thus (unheard) replies: 460 

" Die thou the first ! when Jove and heav'n ordain, 
I follow thee." — He said, and stripped the slain. 
Then, forcing backward from the gaping wound 
The reeking jav'lin, cast it on the ground. 
The thronging Greeks behold with wond'ring eyes 465 
His manly beauty and superior size: 

445. drew, gasped out with difficulty, his last words. 

447-448. Cf'. the description of Achilles given by Patroclus himself, "men 
unborn, and ages yet behind, shall curse that fierce, that unforgiving mind." 

447. Furies, daughters of Earth or of Night, winged maidens, with snakes for 
hair, and blood dripping from their eyes; they lived in Tartarus, tinted by gods 
and men alike. They punished men both in this world and the next, especially 
for such crimes as cruelty toward suppliants, murder, and disobedience to 
parents. The Greeks called them the Eumenides, or kindly goddesses, fearing 
to call such dreaded powers by their real name. 

449. Hector, like Patroclus, sees all things clearly in the hour of death. 
Patroclus had said, " 1 see thee fall, and by Achilles' hand." It was Apollo, 
god of the silver bow, who guided the arrow of Paris into the vulnerable heel of 
Achilles. 

457. plaintive, lamenting his untimely fate. Cf. Vergil's "vitaquecum 
gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras." 

458. The Homeric warrior has little comfort in death. His is no " immortal 
soul, freed from the muddy vesture of decay, which grossly closed it in," but 
a disembodied shade, reluctantly quitting the scene of glories on earth for a 
dreary unrest by the banks of Styx. 

s 465. " The admiration expressed for the dead body is a thoroughly Greek 



116 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

While some, ignobler, the great dead deface 
With wounds ungenerous or with taunts disgrace: 
" How chang'd that Hector who, like Jove, of late 
Sent lightning on our fleets and scatter' d fate! " 470 

High o'er the slain the great Achilles stands, 
Begirt with heroes and surrounding bands; 
And thus aloud, while all the host attends: 
" Princes and leaders! countrymen and friends! 
Since now at length the powerful will of heav'n 475 
The dire destroyer to our arm has giv'n, 
Is not Troy fall'n already? Haste, ye pow'rs! 
See if already their deserted towers 
Are left unmanned; or if they yet retain 
The souls of heroes, their great Hector slain. 480 

But what is Troy, or glory what to me? 
Or why reflects my mind on aught but thee, 
Divine Patroclus! Death has seaFd his eyes: 
Unwept, unhonor'd, uninterr'd he lies! 
Can his dear image from my soul depart, 485 

Long as the vital spirit moves my heart? 
If, in the melancholy shades below, 
The flames of friends and lovers cease to glow, 
Yet mine shall sacred last; mine, undecay'd, 
Burn on through death and animate my shade. 490 
Meanwhile, ye sons of Greece! in triumph bring 
The corpse of Hector, and your Paeans sing. 

touch. Compare the way in which Herodotus speaks of the body of the Persian 
general Masistios, found on the battlefield of Plataia (IX. 25). • They placed the 
body in a wagon, and carried it along the ranks, and it was wonderful by 
reason of its size and beauty ; and it was for this reason that they did so, and 
the men left the ranks and crowded to admire Masistios.' " — Leaf. The mutila- 
tion of the body, however, strikes us as particularly brutal. We must remem- 
ber that the Greeks believed that this prevented the spirit from taking revenge. 
It is not so long since we have got rid of a survival of the same belief ; for 
suicioes used to be buried with a stake driven through them, simply in order to 
prevent their ghosts from " walking." 
492. Paeans. The paean is the song of victory to be chanted by his men on 



BOOK XXII 117 

Be this the song, slow moving toward the shore, 
1 Hector is dead and Ilion is no more/ " 

Then his fell soul a thought of vengeance bred 495 
(Unworthy of himself and of the dead) : 
The nervous ankles bor'd, his feet he bound 
With thongs inserted through the double wound; 
These fiVd up high behind the rolling wain, 
His graceful head was trailed along the plain. 500 

Proud on his car th' insulting victor stood, 
And bore aloft his arms, distilling blood. 
He smites the steeds; the rapid chariot flies; 
The sudden clouds of circling dust arise. 
Now lost is all that formidable air; 505 

The face divine and long-descending hair 
Purple the ground, and streak the sable sand; 
Deformed, dishonored, in his native land! 
Giv'n to the rage of an insulting throng! 
And, in his parents' sight, now dragged along! 510 

The mother first beheld with sad survey; 
She rent her tresses, venerable gray, 
And east far off the regal veils away. 
With piercing shrieks his bitter fate she moans, 
While the sad father answers groans with groans; 515 
Tears after tears his mournful cheeks overflow, 
And the whole city wears one face of woe: 



their way back to the ships. The literal translation is, " But come, ye sons of 
the Achaians, let us now, singing our song of victory, go back to the hollow 
ships and take with us our foe. Great glory have we won ; we have slain the 
noble Hector, unto whom the Trojans prayed throughout their city, as he had 
been a god." The words " Great glory," etc., are the paean. Note the weak- 
ness of Pope's translation. 

497. Nervous, sinewy. 

499-502. Literally, " And when he had mounted the chariot, and lifted therein 
the famous armor, he lashed his horses to speed, and they nothing loath flew 
on. And dust rose behind him that was dragged, and his dark hair flowed 
loose on either side, and in the dust lay all his once fair head." 

512-517. Literally, "But his mother, when she beheld her son, tore her hair 



118 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

No less than if the rage of hostile fires, 

From her foundations curling to her spires, 

O'er the proud citadel at length should rise, 520 

And the last blaze send Ilion to the skies. 

The wretched monarch of the falling state, 

Distracted, presses to the Dardan gate. 

Scarce the whole people stop his desperate course, 

While strong affliction gives the feeble force: 525 

Grief tears his heart, and drives him to and fro 

In all the raging impotence of woe. 

At length he rolPd in dust, and thus begun, 

Imploring all, and naming one by one: 

" Ah! let me, let me go where sorrow calls; 530 

I, only I, will issue from your walls 

(Guide or companion, friends! I ask ye none), 

And bow before the murderer of my son. 

My grief perhaps his pity may engage; 

Perhaps at least he may respect my age. 535 

He has a father too; a man like me; 

One not exempt from age and misery 

(Vigorous no more, as when his young embrace 

Begot his pest of me and all my race). 

How many valiant sons, in early bloom, 540 

Has that curs'd hand sent headlong to the tomb! 

Thee, Hector! last: thy loss (divinely brave!) 

Sinks my sad soul with sorrow to the grave. 

Oh had thy gentle spirit pass'd in peace, 

The son expiring in the sire's embrace, 545 

While both thy parents wept thy fatal hour, 

And, bending o'er thee, mix'd the tender show'r! 



and cast far from her her shining veil, and cried aloud with an exceeding bitter 
cry. And piteously moaned his father, and around them the folk fell to crying 
and moaning throughout the town."' 



BOOK XXII 119 

Some comfort that had been, some sad relief, 
To melt in full satiety of grief! " 

Thus waiPd the father, groveling on the ground, 550 
And all the eyes of Ilion streamed around. 

Amidst her matrons Hecuba appears 
(A mourning princess, and a train in tears) : 
"Ah! why has heaven prolonged this hated breath, 
Patient of horrors, to behold thy death? 555 

Hector! late thy parents' pride and joy, 
The boast of nations! the defense of Troy! 
To whom her safety and her fame she ow ? d, 
Her chief, her hero, and almost her god! 
fatal change! become in one sad day 560 

A senseless corpse! inanimated clay! " 

But not as yet the fatal news had spread 
To fair Andromache, of Hector dead; 
As yet no messenger had told his fate, 
Nor ev'n his stay without the Scaean gate. 565 

Far in the close recesses of the dome 
Pensive she plied the melancholy loom; 
A growing work employed her secret hours, 
Confus'dly gay with intermingled flowers. 
Her fair-hair'd handmaids heat the brazen urn, 570 

The bath preparing for her lord's return: 
In vain; alas! her lord returns no more! 
Unbath'd he lies, and bleeds along the shore! 
Now from the walls the clamors reach her ear, 
And all her members shake with sudden fear; 575 

Forth from her iVry hand the shuttle falls, 
As thus, astonished, to her maids she calls: 

549. In Pope's translation, this passage describing the father's agony rings 
false throughout. Pope's studied phrases can never do justice to the tragic 
pathos of Homer's simple words. 



120 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

" Ah, follow me! " (she cried) " what plaintive noise 
Invades my ear? 'Tis sure my mother's voice. 
My faltering knees their trembling frame desert, 580 
A pulse unusual nutters at my heart. 
Some strange disaster, some reverse of fate 
(Ye gods avert it!) threats the Trojan state. 
Far be the omen which my thoughts suggest! 
But much I fear my Hector's dauntless breast 585 

Confronts Achilles; chas'd along the plain, 
Shut from our walls! I fear, I fear him slain! 
Safe in the crowd he ever scorn'd to wait, 
And sought for glory in the jaws of fate: 
Perhaps that noble heat has cost his breath, 590 

Now quench'd for ever in the arms of death." 

She spoke; and, furious, with distracted pace, 
Fears in her heart and anguish in her face, 
Flies through the dome (the maids her step pursue), 
And mounts the walls, and sends around her view. 595 
Too soon her eyes the killing object found, 
The god-like Hector dragged along the ground. 
A sudden darkness shades her swimming eyes: 
She faints, she falls; her breath, her color, flies! 
Her hair's fair ornaments, the braids that bound, 600 
The net that held them, and the wreath that crown'd, 
The veil and diadem flew far away 
(The gift of Venus on her bridal day). 
Around a train of weeping sisters stands, 
To raise her sinking with assistant hands. 605 

Scarce from the verge of death recall' d, again 
She faints, or but recovers to complain: 

" O wretched husband of a wretched wife! 
Born with one fate ; to one unhappy life! 



BOOK XXII 121 

For sure one star its baneful beam display 'd 610 

On Priam's roof and Hippoplacia's shade. 

From difFrent parents, different climes, we came, 

At difFrent periods, yet our fate the same! 

Why was my birth to great Eetion ow'd, 

And why was all that tender care bestowed? 615 

Would I had never been! — thou, the ghost 

Of my dead husband! miserably lost! 

Thou to the dismal realms for ever gone! 

And I abandoned, desolate, alone! 

An only child, once comfort of my pains, 620 

Sad product now of hapless love, remains! 

No more to smile upon his sire! no friend 

To help him now! no father to defend! 

For should he 'scape the sword, the common doom, 

What wrongs attend him, and what griefs to come! 625 

Ev'n from his own paternal roof expell'd, 

Some stranger plows his patrimonial field. 

The day that to the shades the father sends, 

Eobs the sad orphan of his father's friends: 

He, wretched outcast of mankind! appears 630 

For ever sad, for ever bath'd in tears; 

Amongst the happy, unregarded he 

Hangs on the robe or trembles at the knee; 

While those his father's former bounty fed 

Nor reach the goblet nor divide the bread: 635 

The kindest but his present wants allay, 

To leave him wretched the succeeding day. 

Frugal compassion! Heedless, they who boast 

Both parents still, nor feel what he has lost, 

Shall cry, ' Begone! thy father feasts not here': 640 

The wretch obeys, retiring with a tear. 

611. Hippoplacia. Andromache's birthplace. 



122 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Thus wretched, thus retiring all in tears, 

To my sad soul Astyanax appears! 

Forced by repeated insults to return, 

And to his widowed mother vainly mourn. 645 

He who, with tender delicacy bred, 

With princes sported and on dainties fed, 

And, when still evening gave him up to rest, 

Sunk soft in down upon the nurse's breast, 

Must — ah! what must he not? Whom Ilion calls 650 

Astyanax, from her well-guarded walls, 

Is now that name no more, unhappy boy! 

Since now no more the father guards his Troy. 

But thou, my Hector! li'st exposed in air, 

Far from thy parents' and thy consort's care, 655 

Whose hand in vain, directed by her love, 

The martial scarf and robe of triumph wove. 

Now to devouring flames be these a prey, 

Useless to thee, from this accursed day! 

Yet let the sacrifice at least be paid, 660 

And honor to the living, not the dead! " 

So spake the mournful dame: her matrons hear, 
Sigh back her sighs, and answer tear with tear. 



BOOK XXIII 

FUNERAL GAMES IN HONOR OF PATROCLUS 

Achilles and the Myrmidons do honors to the body of Patro- 
clus. After the funeral feast he retires to the sea-shore, where, 
falling asleep, the ghost of his friend appears to him, and demands 
the rites of burial : the next morning the soldiers are sent with 
mules and wagons to fetch wood for the pyre. The funeral pro- 
cession, and the offering their hair to the dead. Achilles sacrifices 
several animals, and lastly, twelve Trojan captives, at the pile ; 
then sets fire to it. He pays libations to the winds, which (at the 
instance of Iris) rise, and raise the flame. When the pile has 
burned all night, they gather the bones, place them in an urn of 
gold, and raise the tomb. Achilles institutes the funeral games: 
the chariot-race, the fight of the caestus, the wrestling, the foot- 
race, the single combat, the discus, the shooting with arrows, the 
darting the javelin : the various descriptions of which, and the 
various success of the several antagonists, make the greatest part 
of the book. 

In this book ends the thirtieth day : the night following, the 
ghost of Patroclus appears to Achilles : the one-and-thirtieth day 
is employed in felling the timber for the pile ; the two-and- 
thirtieth in burning it ; and the three-and-thirtieth in the games. 
The scene is generally on the sea-shore. 



123 



\ \ / 

\ \ I / , 




THE BODY OF HECTOR DRAGGED AROUND THE TOMB OF PATROCLUS 



BOOK XXIV 



THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY OF HECTOR 

The gods deliberate about the redemption of Hector's body. 
Jupiter sends Thetis to Achilles to dispose him for the restoring 
it, and Iris to Priam, to encourage him to go in person and treat 
for it. The old king, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his 
queen, makes ready for the journey, to which he is encouraged 
by an omen from Jupiter. He sets forth in his chariot, with a 
wagon loaded with presents, under the charge of Idseus the 
herald. Mercury descends in the shape of a young man, and con- 
ducts him to the pavilion of Achilles. Their conversation on the 
way. Priam finds Achilles at his table, casts himself at his feet, 
and begs for the body of his son : Achilles, moved with compas- 
sion, grants his request, detains him one night in his tent, and the 
next morning sends him home with the body : the Trojans run out 
to meet him. The lamentation of Andromache, Hecuba, and 
Helen, with the solemnities of the funeral. 

The time of twelve days is employed in this book, while the 

124 



BOOK XXIV 125 

body of Hector lies in the tent of Achilles. And as many more 
are spent in the truce allowed for his interment. The scene is 
partly in Achilles' camp, and partly in Troy. 

Now from the finished games the Grecian band 
Seek their black ships, and clear the crowded strand: 
All stretch'd at ease the genial banquet share, 
And pleasing slumbers quiet all their care. 
Not so Achilles: he, to grief resigned, 5 

His f riend's dear image present to his mind, 
Takes his sad couch, more unobserved to weep, 
Nor tastes the gifts of all-composing sleep. 
Eestless he rolPd around his weary bed, 
And all his soul on his Patroclus fed: 10 

The form so pleasing and the heart so kind, 
That youthful vigor and that manly mind, 
What toils they shared, what martial works they 

wrought, 
What seas they measured and what fields they fought; — 
All pass'd before him in remembrance dear: 15 

Thought follows thought, and tear succeeds to tear. 
And now supine, now prone, the hero lay; 
Now shifts his side, impatient for the day; 
Then starting up, disconsolate he goes 
Wide on the lonely beach to vent his woes. 20 

There as the solitary mourner raves, 
The ruddy morning rises o'er the waves: 



1. " The supreme beauty of the last book of the Iliad, and the divine pathos 
of the dying fall in which the tale of strife and blood passes away, are above 
all words of praise. The meeting of Priam and Achilles, the kissing of the 
deadly hands, and the simplicity of infinite sadness overman's fate in Achilles' 
reply, mark the high tide of a great epoch of poetry. In them we feel that the 
whole range of suffering has been added to the unsurpassed presentment of 
action, which, without this book, might seem to be the crowning glory of the 
Iliad. In the Iliad itself there is nothing that we can compare with this save 
the equally supreme scene of the parting of Hector and Andromache."— Leaf. 



126 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Soon as it rose, his furious steeds he join'd; 

The chariot flies, and Hector trails behind. 

And thrice, Patroclus! round thy monument 25 

Was Hector dragg'd, then hurried to the tent. 

There sleep at last overcomes the hero's eyes; 

While foul in dust th' unhonor'd carcass lies, 

But not deserted by the pitying skies. 

For Phoebus watch'd it with superior care; 30 

Preserved from gaping wounds and tainting air; 

And, ignominious as it swept the field, 

Spread o'er the sacred corse his golden shield. 

All heav'n was mov'd, and Hermes will'd to go 

By stealth to snatch him from th' insulting foe: 35 

But Neptune this, and Pallas this denies, 

And th' unrelenting empr3ss of the skies: 

E'er since that day implacable to Troy, 

What time young Paris, simple shepherd boy, 

Won by destructive lust (reward obscene), 40 

Their charms rejected for the Cyprian queen. 

But when the tenth celestial morning broke, 

To heav'n assembled, thus Apollo spoke: 

" Unpitying pow'rs! how oft each holy fane 
Has Hector ting'd with blood of victims slain? 45 

And can ye still his cold remains pursue? 
Still grudge his body to the Trojans' view? 
Deny to consort, mother, son, and sire, 
The last sad honors of a fun'ral fire? 



24. The body of Hector was still fastened to the chariot. 

34, All the other gods pitied Hector, and urged Hermes to steal the body from 
Achilles ; but Jnno, Minerva, and Neptune were not even now satisfied m their 
love of vengeance. Note how Pope uses both the Latin and Greek names of 
the gods. . u n 



39. What time, a poetical phrase meaning " when. 

40. Paris was called upon to judge which of the three goddesses, Juno, 
Minerva . and Venus, was fairest. He decided in favor of Venus on the prom ise 
that he should receive as his reward the most beautiful woman in the world. 



BOOK XXIV 127 

Is then the dire Achilles all your care? 50 

That iron heart, inflexibly severe; 

A lion, not a man, who slaughters wide 

In strength of rage and impotence of pride? 

Who hastes to murder with a savage joy; 

Invades around, and breathes but to destroy? 55 

Shame is not of his soul; nor understood 

The greatest evil and the greatest good. 

Still for one loss he rages unresign'd, 

Eepugnant to the lot of all mankind; 

To lose a friend, a brother, or a son, 60 

Heaven dooms each mortal, and its will is done: 

Awhile they sorrow, then dismiss their care; 

Fate gives the wound, and man is born to bear. 

But this insatiate the commission giv'n 

By fate exceeds; and tempts the wrath of heav'n: 65 

Lo how his rage dishonest drags along 

Hector's dead earth, insensible of wrong! 

Brave though he be, yet by no reason aw'd, 

He violates the laws of man and God." 

" If equal honors by the partial skies 70 

Are doom/d both heroes " (Juno thus replies); 
u If Thetis' son must no distinction know, 
Then hear, ye gods! the patron of the bow. 
But Hector only boasts a mortal claim, 
His birth deriving from a mortal dame: 75 



50-57. Literally, " But fell Achilles, O god, ye are fain to abet, whose mind is 
nowise just nor the purpose in his breast to be turned away, but he is cruelly 
minded as a lion that in great strength and at the bidding of his proud heart 
goeth forth against men's flocks to make his meal ; even thus Achilles hath 
cast out pity, neither hath he shame, that doth both harm and profit men 
greatly." The double character of shame was a favorite topic with the Greek 
moralists. The Greek word expresses two ideas, the respect for the opinion 
of others, which we call honor, and the wrong shame or want of boldness 
which prevents a man from doing his work in the world. 

73. patron of the bow, Apollo. 



128 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Achilles, of your own ethereal race, 

Springs from a goddess by a man's embrace 

(A goddess by ourself to Peleus giv'n, 

A man divine, and chosen friend of heav'n) : 

To grace those nuptials, from the bright abode 80 

Yourselves were present; where this minstrel-god 

(Well-pleas' d to share the feast) amid the quire 

Stood proud to hymn, and tune his youthful lyre." 

Then thus the Thund'rer checks th' imperial 
dame: 
" Let not thy wrath the court of heav'n inflame; 85 
Their merits nor their honors are the same. 
But mine and ev'ry god's peculiar grace 
Hector deserves, of all the Trojan race: 
Still on our shrine his grateful offrings lay 
(The only honors man to gods can pay) : 90 

Nor ever from our smoking altar ceas'd 
The pure libation and the holy feast. 
Howe'er, by stealth to snatch the corse away 
We will not: Thetis guards it night and day. 
But haste, and summon to our courts above 95 

The azure queen; let her persuasion move 
Her furious son from Priam to receive 
The proffer' d ransom, and the corse to leave." 

He added not: and Iris from the skies 
Swift as a whirlwind on the message flies; 100 

Meteorous the face of ocean sweeps, 
Refulgent gliding o'er the sable deeps. 
Between where Samos wide his forests spreads, 
And rocky Imbrus lifts its pointed heads, 



81. minstrel god, Apollo. 
96. Azure queen, Thetis. 
99. Iris, goddess of the rainbow, and Jupiter's messenger. 



BOOK XXIV 129 

Down plunged the maid (the parted waves resound); 
She plung'd, and instant shot the dark profound. 106 
As, bearing death in the fallacious bait, 
From the bent angle sinks the leaden weight; 
So passed the goddess through the closing wave 
Where Thetis sorrowed in her secret cave: 110 

There placed amidst her melancholy train 
(The blue-haired sisters of the sacred main), 
Pensive she sate, revolving fates to come, 
And wept her godlike son's approaching doom. 

Then thus the goddess of the painted bow: 115 

" Arise, Thetis! from thy seats below; 
'Tis Jove that calls." " And why " (the dame replies) 
" Calls Jove his Thetis to the hated skies? 
Sad object as I am for heavenly sight! 
Ah! may my sorrows ever shun the light! 120 

However, be heavVs almighty sire obey'd." 
She spake, and veiPd her head in sable shade, 
Which, flowing long, her graceful person clad; 
And forth she pac'd majestically sad. 

Then through the world of waters they repair 125 
(The way fair Iris led) to upper air. 
The deeps dividing, o'er the coast they rise, 
And touch with momentary flight the skies. 
There in the lightning's blaze the sire they found, 
And all the gods in shining synod round. 130 



106. Literally, "leapt into the black sea, and the waters closed above her 
with a noise, and she sped to the bottom like a weight of lead that mounted on 
horn of a field-ox goeth down bearing death to ravenous fishes." Many ex- 
planations of this remarkable simile have been offered. The " horn of a field- 
ox " is either an artificial bait of horn filled with lead or else a tube of horn 
surrounding the line above the hook to prevent the fish from biting it through. 

112. blue-haired. This epithet is not found in the original. 

115. painted bow. The rainbow. 

130. Synod, assembly. The word is now restricted to meaning a church 
assembly, 



130 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Thetis approached with anguish in her face 

(Minerva rising gave the mourner place); 

E'en Juno sought her sorrows to console, 

And offered from her hand the nectar bowl: 

She tasted, and resigned it: then began 135 

The sacred sire of gods and mortal man: 

"Thou com'st, fair Thetis, but with grief o'er- 
cast, 
Maternal sorrows, long, ah long to last! 
Suffice, we know and we partake thy cares; 
But yield to fate, and hear what Jove declares. 140 
Nine days are past since all the court above 
In Hector's cause have mov'd the ear of Jove; 
'Twas voted Hermes from his godlike foe 
By stealth should bear him, but we will'd not so: 
We will thy son himself the corse restore, 145 

And to his conquest add this glory more. 
Then hie thee to him and our mandate bear; 
Tell him he tempts the wrath of heav'n too far: 
Nor let him more (our anger if he dread) 
Vent his mad vengeance on the sacred dead: 150 

But yield to ransom and the father's pray'r. 
The mournful father Iris shall prepare 
With gifts to sue; and offer to his hands 
Whatever his honor asks or heart demands." 

His word the silver-footed queen attends, 155 

And from Olympus' snowy tops descends. 
Arriv'd, she heard the voice of loud lament, 
And echoing groans that shook the lofty tent. 



154 honor. The " glory " above is the receipt of gifts. Tf Jupiter had per- 
mitted the bodv to be stolen away, and Achilles received nothing for it, he would 
have been disgraced, for, as will have been noticed, it is in the receipt of gifts 
that the point of honor lies. 



BOOK XXIV 131 

His friends prepare the victim, and dispose 

Eepast unheeded, while he vents his woes. 160 

The goddess seats her by her pensive son: 

She pressed his hand, and tender thus begun: 

"How long, unhappy! shall thy sorrow flow, 
And thy heart waste with life-consuming woe, 
Mindless of food or love, whose pleasing reign 165 

Soothes weary life and softens human pain? 
Oh snatch the moments yet within thy pow'r; 
Not long to live, indulge the am'rous hour! 
Lo! Jove himself (for Jove's command I bear) 
Forbids to tempt the wrath of heav'n too far. 170 

No longer then (his fury if thou dread) 
Detain the relics of great Hector dead; 
Nor vent on senseless earth thy vengeance vain, 
But yield to ransom and restore the slain." 

To whom Achilles: "Be the ransom giv'n, 175 

And we submit; since such the will of heav'n." 

While thus they communed, from th' Olympian bow'rs 

Jove orders Iris to the Trojan tow'rs: 
"Haste, winged goddess! to the sacred town, 

And urge her monarch to redeem his son; 180 

Alone, the Ilian ramparts let him leave, 

And bear what stern Achilles may receive: 

Alone, for so we will: no Trojan near; 

Except, to place the dead with decent care, 

Some aged herald who, with gentle hand, 185 

May the slow mules and fun'ral car command. 

Nor let him death nor let him danger dread, 

Safe through the foe by our protection led: 

Him Hermes to Achilles shall convey, 

Guard of his life and partner of his way. 190 

159. Prepare the victim, offer up a sacrifice. 



132 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Fierce as he is, Achilles' self shall spare 
His age, nor touch one venerable hair: 
Some thought there must be in a soul so brave, 
Some sense of duty, some desire to save." 

Then down her bow the winged Iris drives, 195 

And swift at Priam's mournful court arrives; 
Where the sad sons beside their father's throne 
Sate bath'd in tears, and answer'd groan with groan. 
And all amidst them lay the hoary sire 
(Sad scene of woe!): his face his wrapp'd attire 200 

Conceal'd from sight; with frantic hands he spread 
A show'r of ashes o'er his neck and head. 
From room to room his pensive daughters roam, 
Whose shrieks and clamors fill the vaulted dome; 
Mindful of those who, late their pride and joy, 205 
Lie pale and breathless round the fields of Troy! 
Before the king Jove's messenger appears, 
And thus in whispers greets his trembling ears: 

" Fear not, father! no ill news I bear; 
From Jove I come, Jove makes thee still his care; 210 
For Hector's sake these walls he bids thee leave, 
And bear what stern Achilles may receive: 
Alone, for so he wills: no Trojan near, 
Except, to place the dead with decent care, 
Some aged herald, who with gentle hand 215 

May the slow mules and fun'ral car command. 
Nor shalt thou death nor shalt thou danger dread; 
Safe through the foe by his protection led: 
Thee Hermes to Pelides shall convey, 
Guard of thy life and partner of thy way. 220 

Fierce as he is, Achilles' self shall spare 
Thy age, nor touch one venerable hair: 



book: xxiv 133 

Some thought there must be in a soul so brave, 
Some sense of duty, some desire to save." 

She spoke, and vanished. Priam bids prepare 225 
His gentle mules, and harness to the car; 
There, for the gifts, a polished casket lay: 
His pious sons the king's commands obey. 
Then pass'd the monarch to his bridal-room, 
Where cedar-beams the lofty roofs perfume, 230 

And where the treasures of his empire lay; 
Then call'd his queen, and thus began to say: 

" Unhappy consort of a king distressed! 
Partake the troubles of thy husband's breast: 
I saw descend the messenger of Jove, 235 

Who bids me try Achilles' mind to move, 
Forsake these ramparts, and with gifts obtain 
The corse of Hector at yon navy slain. 
Tell me thy thought: my heart impels to go 
Through hostile camps, and bears me to the foe." 240 

The hoary monarch thus: her piercing cries 
Sad Hecuba renews, and then replies: 
"Ah! whither wanders thy distempered mind; 
And where the prudence now that aw'd mankind, 
Through Phrygia once, and foreign regions known, 245 
Now all confus'd, distracted, overthrown? 
Singly to pass through hosts of foes! to face 
(Oh heart of steel!) the murd'rer of thy race! 
To view that deathful eye, and wander o'er 
Those hands, yet red with Hector's noble gore! 250 

Alas! my lord! he knows not how to spare, 
And what his mercy, thy slain sons declare; 

243. distemper'd, unhinged, wanderinsr. 

245. Phrygia. This name does not occur in the text. Pope has used it for 
metrical reasons. 



134 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

i 

So brave, so many fall'n! to calm his rage 

Vain were thy dignity and vain thy age. 

No! — pent in this sad palace, let us give 255 

To grief the wretched days we have to live. 

Still, still for Hector let our sorrows flow, 

Born to his own and to his parents' woe! 

Doomed from the hour his luckless life begun 

To dogs, to vultures, and to Peleus' son! 260 

Oh! in his dearest blood might I allay 

My rage, and these barbarities repay! 

For ah! could Hector merit thus? whose breath . 

Expired not meanly in inactive death: 

He pour'd his latest blood in manly fight, 265 

And fell a hero in his country's right/' 

" Seek not to stay me nor my soul affright 
With words of omen, like a bird of night " 
(Eeplied unmov'd the venerable man): 
" 'Tis heav'n commands me, and you urge in vain. 270 
Had any mortal voice th' injunction laid, 
Nor augur, priest, nor seer had been obey'd. 
A present goddess brought the high command: 
I saw, I heard her, and the word shall stand. 
I go, ye gods! obedient to your call: 275 

If in yon camp your pow'rs have doom'd my fall, 
Content: by the same hand let me expire! 
Add to the slaughtered son the wretched sire! 
One cold embrace at least may be allow'd, 
And my last tears flow mingled with his blood! " 280 

Forth from his open'd stores, this said, he drew 
Twelve costly carpets of refulgent hue; 



261. his, Achilles'. 

273. present, actually visible. 



BOOK XXIV 135 

As many vests, as many mantles told, 

And twelve fair veils, and garments stiff with gold; 

Two tripods next, and twice two chargers shine, 285 

With ten pure talents from the richest mine; 

And last a large, well-labored bowl had place 

(The pledge of treaties once with friendly Thrace) : 

Seemed all too mean the stores he could employ, 

For one last look to buy him back to Troy! 290 

Lo! the sad father, frantic with his pain, 
Around him furious drives his menial train: 
In vain each slave with duteous care attends, 
Each office hurts him and each face offends. 
" What make ye here, officious crowds! " (he cries) 295 
" Hence, nor obtrude your anguish on my eyes. 
Have ye no griefs at home to fix ye there? 
Am I the only object of despair? 
Am I become my people's common show, 
Set up by Jove your spectacle of woe? 300 

No, you must feel him too: yourselves must fall; 
The same stern god to ruin gives you all. 
Nor is great Hector lost by me alone: 
Your sole defense, your guardian pow'r is gone! 
I see your blood the fields of Phrygia drown; 305 
I see the ruins of your smoking town! 
Oh send me, gods, ere that sad day shall come, 
A willing ghost to Pluto's dreary dome! " 

He said, and feebly drives his friends away: 
The sorrowing friends his frantic rage obey. 310 



285. chargers, platters. 

287. well-labor'd, richly wrought. 

292. Their attempts to comfort him only angered the old King. The follow- 
ing lines well describe the weak petulance of a very old man who, under 
pressure of great grief, ^en is his rage upon those who happen to be near him, 
and whom he knows to be his friends, 



136 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Next on his sons his erring fury falls, 

Polites, Paris, Agathon, he calls; 

His threats Deiphobus and Dius hear, 

Hippothoiis, Pammon, Helenus the seer, 

And gen'rous Antiphon; for yet these nine 315 

Survived, sad relics of his numerous line: 

"Inglorious sons of an unhappy sire! 
Why did not all in Hector's cause expire? 
Wretch that I am! my bravest offspring slain, 
You, the disgrace of Priam's house, remain! 320 

Mestor the brave, renowned in ranks of war, 
With Troilus, dreadful on his rushing car, 
And last great Hector, more than man divine, 
For sure he seem'd not of terrestrial line! — 
All those relentless Mars untimely slew, 325 

And left me these, a soft and servile crew, 
Whose days the feast and wanton dance employ, 
Gluttons and flatterers, the contempt of Troy! 
Why teach ye not my rapid wheels to run, 
And speed my journey to redeem my son? " 330 

The sons their father's wretched age revere, 
Forgive his anger, and produce the car. 
High on the seat the cabinet they bind; 
The new-made car with solid beauty shin'd: 
Box was the yoke, emboss'd with costly pains, 335 

And hung with ringlets to receive the reins: 
Nine cubits long, the traces swept the ground; 
These to the chariot's polish'd pole they bound, 
Then fix'd a ring the running reins to guide, 
And close beneath the gather'd ends were tied. 340 
Next with the gifts (the price of Hector slain) 

333. the cabinet, the receptacle for the gifts, 



BOOK XXIV 137 

The sad attendants load the groaning wain: 

Last to the yoke the well-matched mules they bring 

(The gift of Mysia to the Trojan king); 

But the fair horses, long his darling care, 345 

Himself received, and harnessed to his car: 

Griev'd as he was, he not this task denied; 

The hoary herald helped him at his side. 

While careful these the gentle coursers joined, 

Sad Hecuba approached with anxious mind; 350 

A golden bowl that foamed with fragrant wine 

(Libation destined to the power divine) 

Held in her right, before the steeds she stands, 

And thus consigns it to the monarch's hands: 

"•Take this, and pour to Jove; that, safe from harms, 
His grace restore thee to our roof and arms. 356 

Since, victor of thy fears, and slighting mine, 
Heaven or thy soul inspire this bold design: 
Pray to that god, who, high on Ida's brow, 
Surveys thy desolated realms below, 360 

His winged messenger to send from high, 
And lead the way with heav'nly augury: 
Let the strong sovereign of the plumy race 
Tow'r on the right of yon ethereal space. 
That sign beheld, and strengthened from above, 365 
Boldly pursue the journey marked by Jove; 
But if the god his augury denies, 
Suppress thy impulse, nor reject advice." 

" 'Tis just " (said Priam) " to the Sire above 
To raise our hands; for who so good as Jove? " 370 

He spoke, and bade th' attendant handmaid bring 
The purest water of the living spring 

346. his car. Priam inhi8 chariot accompanied the muie wagon. 
361. winged messenger, the eagle, 



138 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

(Her ready hands the ewer and basin held); 

Then took the golden cup his queen had filPd; 

On the mid pavement pours the rosy wine, 375 

Uplifts his eyes, and calls the power divine: 

" first and greatest! heaven's imperial lord! 
On lofty Ida's holy hill ador'd! 
To stern Achilles now direct my ways, 
And teach him mercy when a father prays. 380 

If such thy will, dispatch from yonder sky 
Thy sacred bird, celestial augury! 
Let the strong sovereign of the plumy race 
Tow'r on the right of yon ethereal space: 
So shall thy suppliant, strengthened from above, 385 
Fearless pursue the journey marked by Jove." 

Jove heard his prayer, and from the throne on high 
Dispatched his bird, celestial augury! 
The swift-wing'd chaser of the feather'd game, 
And known to gods by Percnos' lofty name. 390 

Wide as appears some palace gate displayed, 
So broad his pinions stretched their ample shade, 
As, stooping dexter with resounding wings, 
Th' imperial bird descends in airy rings. 
A dawn of joy in ev'ry face appears; 395 

The mourning matron dries her tim'rous tears. 
Swift on his car th' impatient monarch sprung; 
The brazen portal in his passage rung. 
The mules, preceding, draw the loaded wain, 
Charged with the gifts; Idasus holds the rein: 400 

The king himself his gentle steeds controls, 
And through surrounding friends the chariot rolls. 



375. The altar of Jupiter stands in the center of the court, 
390. Percnos, the black eagle. 
393. dexter, to the right, 



BOOK XXIV 139 

On his slow wheels the following people wait, 
Mourn at each step, and give him up to fate; 
With hands uplifted, eye him as he passed, 405 

And gaze upon him as they gaz'd their last. 

Now forward fares the father on his way, 
Through the lone fields and back to Ilion they. 
Great Jove beheld him as he crossed the plain, 
And felt the woes of miserable man. 410 

Then thus to Hermes: " Thou, whose constant cares 
Still succor mortals, and attend their pray'rs! 
Behold an object to thy charge consigned; 
If ever pity touch'd thee for mankind, 
Go, guard the sire; th' observing foe prevent, 415 
And safe conduct him to Achilles' tent." 

The god obeys, his golden pinions binds, 
And mounts incumbent on the wings of winds, 
That high through fields of air his flight sustain 
O'er the wide earth and o'er the boundless main; 420 
Then grasps the wand that causes sleep to fly, 
Or in soft slumbers seals the wakeful eye: 
Thus arm'd, swift Hermes steers his airy way, 
And stoops on Hellespont's resounding sea. 
A beauteous youth, majestic and divine, 425 

He seem'd; fair offspring of some princely line! 
Now twilight veil'd the glaring face of day, 
And clad the dusky fields in sober gray; 

403. The original reads " Behind came the horses, which the old man urged 
with the lash at speed along the city." 

417. Literally, M Straightway beneath his feet he bound on his fair sandals, 
golden, divine, that bore him over the wet sea and over the boundless land with 
the breathings of the wind." Vergil is indebted to this beautiful passage in the 
fourth book of the JEneid, where he describes the flight of Hermes ; and Milton 
had it in mind when he protrayed the descent of the Angel Gabriel— Para- 
dise Lost, V. 

421. The wand. The magic wand which Hermes carried in virtue of his 
office as messenger of the gods had the power of lulling men to sleep and 
waking them from sleep. It was originally twined about with ribbons, which 
in later mythology became snakes, symbolic of the god's subtlety. 



140 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

What time tjie herald and the hoary king, 

Their chariot stopping at the silver spring, 430 

That circling Ilus' ancient marble flows, 

Allowed their mules and steeds a short repose. 

Through the dim shade the herald first espies 

A man's approach, and thus to Priam cries: 

" I mark some foe's advance: king! beware; 435 

This hard adventure claims thy utmost care; 

For much I fear destruction hovers nigh. 

Our state asks counsel. Is it best to fly? 

Or, old and helpless, at his feet to fall 

(Two wretched suppliants), and for mercy call? " 440 

Th ? afflicted monarch shiver' d with despair; 
Pale grew his face and upright stood his hair; 
Sunk was his heart; his color went and came; 
A sudden trembling shook his aged frame; 
When Hermes, greeting, touched his royal hand, 445 
And, gentle, thus accosts with kind demand: 

" Say whither, father! when each mortal sight 
Is seal'd in sleep, thou wander'st through the 

night? 
Why roam thy mules and steeds the plains along 
Through Grecian foes so numerous and so strong? 450 
What couldst thou hope, shouldst these thy treasures 

view, 
These, who with endless hate thy race pursue? 
For what defense, alas! couldst thou provide? 
Thyself not young, a weak old man thy guide. 
Yet suffer not thy soul to sink with dread; 455 

From me no harm shall touch thy rev'rend head; 



431. Ilus' ancient marble. The tomb of Priam's grandfather. The name 
Ilium is derived from Ilus. 



BOOK XXIV 141 

From Greece Fll guard thee too; for in those lines 
The living image of my father shines." 

" Thy words, that speak benevolence of mind, 
Are true, my son! " (the godlike sire rejoined) 460 

"' Great are my hazards; but the gods survey 
My steps and send thee, guardian of my way 
Hail! and be blest! for scarce of mortal kind 
Appear thy form, thy features, and thy mind." 

" Nor true are all thy words, nor erring wide " 465 
(The sacred messenger of heav'n replied); 
" But say, convey^st thou through the lonely plains 
What yet most precious of thy store remains, 
To lodge in safety with some friendly hand, 
Prepared perchance to leave thy native land? 470 

Or fly'st thou now? What hopes can Troy retain, 
Thy matchless son, her guard and glory, slain? " 

The king, alarmed: " Say what, and whence thou art, 
Who search the sorrows of a parent's heart, 
And know so well how godlike Hector died? " 475 

Thus Priam spoke, and Hermes thus replied: 

"You tempt me, father, and with pity touch: 
On this sad subject you inquire too much. 
Oft have these eyes the godlike Hector viewed 
In glorious fight, with Grecian blood imbrued: 480 

I saw him, when, like Jove, his flames he tossed 
On thousand ships, and withered half a host: 
I saw, but helped not; stern Achilles' ire 
Forbade assistance, and enjoy'd the fire. 
For him I serve, of Myrmidonian race; 485 

One ship conveyed us from our native place; 

457. Greece, the Greeks. 

Lines, lineaments. 
481-482. See the argument of Book XV. 



142 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Polyctor is my sire, an honor'd name. 

Old, like thyself, and not unknown to fame; 

Of seven his sons, by whom the lot was cast 

To serve our prince, it fell on me the last. 490 

To watch this quarter my adventure falls; 

For with the morn the Greeks attack your walls: 

Sleepless they sit, impatient to engage, 

And scarce their rulers check their martial rage." 

" If then thou art of stern Pelides' train " 495 

(The mournful monarch thus rejoin'd again), 
" Ah, tell me truly, where, oh! where are laid 
My son's dear relics? what befalls him dead? 
Have dogs dismembered on the naked plains, 
Or yet unmangled rest his cold remains?" 500 

" favor'd of the skies! " (thus answered then 
The pow'r that mediates between gods and men) 
" Nor dogs nor vultures have thy Hector rent; 
But whole he lies, neglected in the tent: 
This the twelfth evening since he rested there, 505 
Untouched by worms, untainted by the air. 
Still as Aurora's ruddy beam is spread, 
Bound his friend's tomb Achilles drags the dead; 
Yet undisflgur'd, or in limb or face, 
All fresh he lies, with ev'ry living grace, 510 

Majestical in death! No stains are found 
O'er all the corse, and clos'd is ev'ry wound; 
Though many a wound they gave. Some heav'nly care, 
Some hand divine, preserves him ever fair: 
Or all the host of heav'n, to whom he led 515 

A life so grateful, still regard him dead." 

Thus spoke to Priam the celestial guide, 
And joyful thus the royal sire replied: 

507. Literally, "so oft as divine day dawneth." 



BOOK XXIV 143 

" Blessed is the man who pays the gods above 

The constant tribute of respect and love! 520 

Those who inhabit the Olympian bow'r 

My son forgot not, in exalted pow'r; 

And Heav'n, that ev'ry virtue bears in mind, 

Ev'n to the ashes of the just is kind. 

But thou, generous youth! this goblet take, 525 

A pledge of gratitude for Hector's sake; 

And while the fav'ring gods our steps survey, 

Safe to Pelides' tent conduct my way." 

To whom the latent god: " king, forbear 
To tempt my youth! for apt is youth to err: 530 

But can I, absent from my prince's sight, 
Take gifts in secret, that must shun the light ? 
What from our master's interest thus we draw, 
Is but a licensed theft that 'scapes the law. 
Eespecting him, my soul abjures th' offense; 535 

And as the crime I dread the consequence. 
Thee, far as Argos, pleas'd I could convey; 
Guard of thy life, and partner of thy way: 
On thee attend, thy safety to maintain . 
O'er pathless forests or the roaring main." 540 

He said, then took the chariot at a bound, 
And snatch'd the reins and whirl'd the lash around: 
Before th' inspiring god that urged them on 
The coursers fly, with spiiit not their own. 
And now they reach'd the naval walls, and found 545 
The guards repasting, while the bowls go round: 
On these the virtue of his wand he tries, 
And pours deep slumber on their watchful eyes; 
Then heav'd the massy gates, remov'd the bars, 

537. Argos, in Theesaly. 



144 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

And o'er the trenches led the rolling cars. 550 

Unseen, through all the hostile camp they went, 

And now approached Pelides' lofty tent. 

Of fir the roof was raised, and cover' d o'er 

With reeds collected from the marshy shore, 

And fenced with palisades, a hall of state 555 

(The work of soldiers), where the hero sate. 

Large was the door, whose well-compacted strength 

A solid pine tree barred of wondrous length; 

Scarce three strong Greeks could lift its mighty 

weight, 
But great Achilles singly clos'd the gate. 560 

This Hermes (such the pow'r of gods) set wide; 
Then swift alighted the celestial guide, 
And thus, reveal'd: " Hear, prince! and understand 
Thou ow'st thy guidance to no mortal hand: 
Hermes I am, descended from above, 565 

The king of arts, the messenger of Jove. 
Farewell: to shun Achilles' sight I fly; 
Uncommon are such favors of the sky, 
Nor stand confessed to frail mortality. 
Now fearless enter and prefer thy pray'rs; 570 

Adjure him by his father's silver hairs, 
His son, his mother! urge him to bestow 
Whatever pity that stern heart can know." 

Thus having said, he vanished from his eyes, 
And in a moment shot into the skies: 575 

The king, confirmed from heav'n, alighted there, 
And left his aged herald on the car. 
With solemn pace through various rooms he went, 
And found Achilles in his inner tent: 

572. his son. Achilles had a son, Neoptolcmns, who remained at home in 
Greece. 



BOOK XXIV 145 

There sat the hero; Alcimus the brave 580 

And great Automedon attendance gave; 
These served his person at his royal feast; 
Around, at awful distance, stood the rest. 

Unseen by these, the king his entry made; 
And, prostrate now before Achilles laid, 585 

Sudden (a venerable sight!) appears; 
Embraced his knees and bathed his hands in tears; 
Those direful hands his kisses pressed, imbru'd 
EVn with the best, the dearest of his blood! 

As when a wretch (who, conscious of his crime, 590 
Pursued for murder, flies his native clime) 
Just gains some frontier, breathless, pale, amazed: 
All gaze, all wonder: thus Achilles gaz'd: 
Thus stood th' attendants stupid with surprise; 
All mute, yet seemed to question with their eyes: 595 
Each looked on other, none the silence broke, 
Till thus at last the kingly suppliant spoke: 

" Ah think, thou favor' d of the powers divine! 
Think of thy father's age, and pity mine! 
In me, that father's rev'rend image trace, 600 

Those silver hairs, that venerable face; 
His trembling limbs, his helpless person, see! 
In all my equal but in misery! 
Yet now, perhaps, some turn of human fate 
Expels him helpless from his peaceful state; 605 

Think, from some powerful foe thou see'st him fly, 
And beg protection with a feeble cry. 
Yet still one comfort in his soul may rise; 
He hears his son still lives to glad his eyes; 

590-593. This is excellent, but not according to the text. Literally, " and as 
when a grievous curse cometh upon a man who in his own country hath slain 
another and escapeth to a land of strangers, to the house of some rich man, 
and wonder posscs«eth them that look on him." 



146 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

And, hearing, still may hope a better day 610 

May send him thee to chase that foe away. 

No comfort to my griefs, no hopes remain: 

The best, the bravest of my sons are slain! 

Yet what a race! ere Greece to Ilion came, 

The pledge of many a lov'd and loving dame! 615 

Nineteen one mother bore — dead, all are dead! 

How oft, alas, has wretched Priam bled! 

Still one was left, their loss to recompense; 

His father's hope, his country's last defense. 

Him too thy rage has slain! beneath thy steel, 620 

Unhappy, in his country's cause he fell! 

For him through hostile camps I bent my way; 

For him thus prostrate at thy feet I lay; 

Large gifts, proportioned to thy wrath, I bear: 

Oh, hear the wretched, and the gods revere! 625 

Think of thy father and his face behold! 

See him in me, as helpless and as old; 

Though not so wretched: there he yields to me, 

The first of men in sovereign misery: 

Thus forc'd to kneel, thus grov'ling to embrace 630 

The scourge and ruin of my realm and race; 

Suppliant my children's murd'rer to implore, 

And kiss those hands yet reeking with their gore! " 

These words soft pity in the chief inspire, 
Touch'd with the dear remembrance of his sire. 635 
Then with his hand (as prostrate still he lay) 
The old man's cheek he gently turn'd away. 
Now each by turns indulg'd the gush of woe; 
And now the mingled tides together flow: 

638-643. The polished conciseness and antithesis of these lines ill accords 
with the simplicity of the original, " And as they both bethought them of their 
dend, so Priam for man-slaying Hector wept sore as he was fallen before 
Achilles' feet, and Achilles wept for his own father, and now again for 
Patroclus, and their moan went np through the house." 



BOOK XXIV 147 

This low on earth, that gently bending o'er, 640 

A father one, and one a son, deplore: 

But great Achilles different passions rend, 

And now his sire he mourns, and now his friend. 

Th' infectious softness through the heroes ran; 

One universal solemn show'r began; 645 

They bore as heroes, but they felt as man. 

Satiate at length with unavailing woes, 
From the high throne divine Achilles rose: 
The rev'rend monarch by the hand he rais'd; 
On his white beard and form majestic gaz'd, 650 

Not unrelenting: then serene began 
With words to soothe the miserable man: 

"Alas! what weight of anguish hast thou known, 
Unhappy prince! thus guardless and alone 
To pass through foes, and thus undaunted face 655 
The man whose fury has destroyed thy race! 
Heaven sure has arm'd thee with a heart of steel, 
A strength proportioned to the woes you feel. 
Eise then: let reason mitigate our care: 
To mourn avails not: man is born to bear. 660 

Such is, alas! the gods' severe decree; 
They, only they are blest and only free. 
Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood, 
The source of evil one, and one of good; 
From thence the cup of mortal man he fills, 665 

Blessings to these, to those distributes ills; 
To most he mingles both: the wretch decreed 
To taste the bad, unmix'd, is curs'd indeed; 
Pursu'd by wrongs, by meager famine driv'n, 
He wanders, outcast both of earth and heav'n. 670 

The happiest taste not happiness sincere, 
But find the cordial draught is dash'd with care. 



148 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Who more than Peleus shone in wealth and pow'r? 

What stars concurring bless'd his natal hour! 

A realm, a goddess, to his wishes giv'n, 675 

Graced by the gods with all the gifts of heav'n! 

One evil yet overtakes his latest day; 

No race succeeding to impartial sway: 

An only son! and he (alas!) ordain'd 

To fall untimely in a foreign land! 680 

See him in Troy the pious care decline 

Of his weak age, to live the curse of thine! 

Thou too, old man, hast happier days beheld; 

In riches once, in children once excelled; 

Extended Phrygia own'd thy ample reign, 685 

And all fair Lesbos' blissful seats contain, 

And all wide Hellespont's unmeasur'd main. 

But since the god his hand has pleas'd to turn, 

And fill thy measure from his bitter urn, 

What sees the sun but hapless heroes' falls? 690 

War and blood of men surround thy walls! 

What must be, must be. Bear thy lot, nor shed 

These unavailing sorrows o'er the dead; 

Thou canst not call him from the Stygian shore, 

But thou, alas! mayst live to suffer more! " 695 

To whom the king: " favor'd of the skies! 
Here let me grow to earth! since Hector lies 
On the bare beach, depriv'd of obsequies. 
Oh give me Hector! to my eyes restore 
His corse, and take the gifts! I ask no more: 700 

Thou, as thou mayst, these boundless stores enjoy; 
Safe mayst thou sail, and turn thy wrath from Troy; 

685-687. These were the boundaries of the Troad. 

696. Coleridge has called attention to the skill with which Priam first softens 
Achilles' heart by reference to his father and then introduces his request. 



BOOK XXIV 149 

So shall thy pity and forbearance give 

A weak old man to see the light and live! " 

" Move me no more " (Achilles thus replies, 705 

While kindling anger sparkled in his eyes); 
" Nor seek by tears my steady soul to bend; 
To yield thy Hector I myself intend: 
For know, from Jove my goddess mother came 
(Old Ocean's daughter, silver-footed dame); 710 

Nor com'st thou but by heaven, nor com'st alone; 
Some god impels with courage not thy own: 
"No human hand the weighty gates unbarr'd. 
Nor could the boldest of our youth have dar'd 
To press our outworks, or elude the guard. 715 

Cease; lest, neglectful of high Jove's command, 
I show thee, king, thou trad'st on hostile land! 
Eelease my knees, thy suppliant arts give o'er, 
And shake the purpose of my soul no more." 

The sire obey'd him, trembling and o'eraw'd. 720 
Achilles like a lion rush'd abroad; 
Automedon and Alcimus attend, 
Whom most he honor'd since he lost his friend; 
These to unyoke the mules and horses went, 
And lead the hoary herald to the tent; 725 

Next, heap'd on high, the num'rous presents bear 
(Great Hector's ransom) from the polish'd car. 
Two splendid mantles and a carpet spread 
They leave, to cover and enwrap the dead: 
Then call the handmaids, with assistant toil 730 

To wash the body, and anoint with oil, 



705-719. " This outburst on the part of Achilles shows the intense struggle 
through which he is passing. It is all he can do to control himself, and he 
feels that he will not be able to do so at all unless he is left to act in his own 
way, without being either hurried or doubted, as Priam's words might seem to 
imply."— Leaf. 



150 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Apart from Priam; lest th' unhappy sire, 

Provoked to passion, once more rouse to ire 

The stern Pelides; and nor sacred age 

Nor Jove's command should check "the rising rage. 735 

This done, the garments o'er the corse they spread; 

Achilles lifts it to the fun'ral bed: 

Then, while the body on the car they laid, 

He groans, and calls on loVd Patroclus' shade: 

" If, in that gloom which never light must know, 
The deeds of mortals touch the ghosts below, 741 

friend! forgive me that I thus fulfill 
(Eestoring Hector) heaven's unquestioned will. 
The gifts the father gave be ever thine, 
To grace thy manes and adorn thy shrine/' 745 

He said, and entering took his seat of state, 
Where full before him rev'rend Priam sate: 
To whom, composed, the godlike chief begun: 
" Lo! to thy pray'r restored, thy breathless son; 
Extended on the fun'ral couch he lies; 750 

And soon as morning paints the eastern skies, 
The sight is granted to thy longing eyes. 
But now the peaceful hours of sacred night 
Demand refection, and to rest invite: 
Nor thou, father! thus consumed with woe, 755 

The common cares that nourish life forego. 
Not thus did Niobe, of form divine, 
A parent once, whose sorrows equaFd thine: 
Six youthful sons, as many blooming maids, 
In one sad day beheld the Stygian shades; 760 

745. Manes, a Roman word meaning departed spirit. 

757. This is the only mention in Homer of the legend of Niobe. The 
meaning is, "You may well eat, without appearing hard of heart, for even 
Niohe ate in her grief." Niobe's twelve children were slain as a punishment 
for their mother's pride in comparing them to Apollo and Diana. She herself 
was turned into a stone. 



BOOK XXIV 151 

Those by Apollo's silver bow were slain, 

These Cynthia's arrows stretched upon the plain. 

So was her pride chastis'd by wrath divine, 

Who matched her own with bright Latona's line; 

But two the goddess, twelve the queen enjoy'd; 765 

Those boasted twelve th' avenging two destroyed. 

Steep'd in their blood and in the dust outspread, 

Nine days neglected lay expos'd the dead; 

None by to weep them, to inhume them none 

(For Jove had turned the nation all to stone): 770 

The gods themselves, at length relenting, gave 

Th' unhappy race the honors of a grave. 

Herself a rock (for such was heav'n's high will), 

Through deserts wild now pours a weeping rill; 

Where round the bed whence Achelous springs, 775 

The wat'ry fairies dance in mazy rings: 

There high on Sipylus's shaggy brow 

She stands, her own sad monument of woe; 

The rock for ever lasts, the tears for ever flow. 

Such griefs, king! have other parents known: 780 

Eemember theirs, and mitigate thy own. 

The care of heav'n thy Hector has appeared; 

Nor shall he lie unwept and uninterr'd; 

Soon may thy aged cheeks in tears be drown'd, 

And all the eyes of Ilion stream around/' 785 

He said, and rising, chose the victim ewe 
With silver fleece, which his attendants slew. 
The limbs they sever from the reeking hide, 
With skill prepare them, and in parts divide: 
Each on the coals the sep'rate morsels lays, 790 

And hasty snatches from the rising blaze. 

774. According to some, the rock referred to here may still be seen. 



152 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

With bread the glittering canisters they load 
Which round the board Automedon bestow'd: 
The chief himself to each his portion plac'd, 
And each, indulging, shar'd in sweet repast. 795 

When now the rage of hunger was repressed, 
The wondering hero eyes his royal guest; 
No less the royal guest the hero eyes, 
His godlike aspect and majestic size; 
Here youthful grace and noble fire engage, 800 

And there the mild benevolence of age. 
Thus gazing long, the silence neither broke 
(A solemn scene!); at length the father spoke: 
" Permit me now, beloved of Jove, to steep 
My careful temples in the dew of sleep: 805 

For since the day that numbered with the dead 
My hapless son, the dust has been my bed, 
Soft sleep a stranger to my weeping eyes, 
My only food, my sorrows and my sighs! 
Till now, encouraged by the grace you give, 810 

I share thy banquet and consent to live." 
With that, Achilles bade prepare the bed, 
With purple soft and shaggy carpets spread; 
Forth by the flaming lights they bend their way, 
And place the couches, and the coverings lay. 815 

Then he: " Now, father, sleep; but sleep not here; 
Consult thy safety and forgive my fear, 
Lest any Argive (at this hour awake, 
To ask our counsel or our orders take), 
Approaching sudden to our open tent, 820 

Perchance behold thee and our grace prevent. 
Should such report thy honor'd person here, 
The king of men the ransom might defer. 

792. glittering canisters, literally, "fair baskets," 



BOOK XXIV 153 

But say with speed, if aught of thy desire 

Remains unask'd, what time the rites require 825 

T' inter thy Hector? For so long we stay 

Our slaughtering arm and bid the hosts obey." 

" If then thy will permit " (the monarch said) 

" To finish all due honors to the dead, 

This of thy grace accord: to thee are known 830 

The fears of Ilion, closed within her town; 

And at what distance from our walls aspire 

The hills of Ide and forests for the fire. 

Nine days to vent our sorrows I request; 

The tenth shall see the funeral and the feast; 835 

The next to raise his monument be giv'n; 

The twelfth we war, if war be doomed by heav'n! " 

" This thy request " (replied the chief) " enjoy: 
Till then our arms suspend the fall of Troy." 
Then gave his hand at parting, to prevent 840 

The old man's fears, and turned within the tent, 
Where fair Briseis, bright in blooming charms, 
Expects her hero with desiring arms. 
But in the porch the king and herald rest, 
Sad dreams of care yet wandering in their breast. 845 

Now gods and men the gifts of sleep partake; 
Industrious Hermes only was awake, 
The king's return revolving in his mind, 
To pass the ramparts and the watch to blind. 
The pow'r descending hovered o'er his head, 850 

And, " Sleep'st thou, father?" (thus the vision said) 
" Now dost thou sleep when Hector is restored? 
Nor fear the Grecian foes or Grecian lord? 
Thy presence here should stern Atrides see, 
Thy still-suryiying sons may sue for thee; 85$ 



154 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

May offer all thy treasures yet contain 
To spare thy age; and offer all in vain." 

Wak'd with the word, the trembling sire arose 
And raised his friend: the god before him goes: 
He joins the mules, directs them with his hand, 860 
And moves in silence through the hostile land. 
When now to Xanthus' yellow stream they drove 
(Xanthus, immortal progeny of Jove), 
The winged deity forsook their view, 
And in a moment to Olympus flew. 865 

Now shed Aurora round her saffron ray, 
Sprung through the gates of light, and gave the day. 
Charged with their mournful Lad to Ilion go 
The sage and king, majestically slow. 
Cassandra first beholds from Ilion's spire 870 

The sad procession of her hoary sire; 
Then, as the pensive pomp advanced more near 
(Her breathless brother stretched upon the bier), 
A show'r of tears overflows her beauteous eyes, 
Alarming thus all Ilion with her cries: 875 

" Turn here your steps and here your eyes employ, 
Ye wretched daughters and ye sons of Troy! 
If e'er ye rush/d in crowds with vast delight 
To hail your hero glorious from the fight, 
Now meet him dead, and let your sorrows flow! 880 
Your common triumph and your common woe." 

In thronging crowds they issue to the plains, 
Nor man nor woman in the walls remains: 
In ev'ry face the self-same grief is shown, 
And Troy sends forth one universal groan. 885 

At Scsea's gates, they meet the mourning wain, 
Hang on the wheels, and grovel round the slain. 

870. Cassandra, a daughter of Priam. 



BOOK XXIV 155 

The wife and mother, frantic with despair, 

Kiss his pale cheek and rend their scattered hair: 

Thus wildly wailing, at the gates they lay; 890 

And there had sighed and sorrowed out the day; 

But godlike Priam from the chariot rose; 

" Forbear " (he cried) " this violence of woes; 

First to the palace let the car proceed, 

Then pour your boundless sorrows o'er the dead." 895 

The waves of people at his word divide; 
Slow rolls the chariot through the following tide: 
Ev'n to the palace the sad pomp they wait: 
They weep, and place him on the bed of state. 
A melancholy choir attend around 900 

With plaintive sighs and music's solemn sound: 
Alternately they sing, alternate flow 
Th' obedient tears, melodious in their woe; 
While deeper sorrows groan from each full heart, 
And nature speaks at ev'ry pause of art. 905 

First to the corse the weeping consort flew; 
Around his neck her milk-white arms she threw: 
And, " my Hector! oh my lord! " she cries; 
" Snatched in thy bloom from these desiring eyes! 
Thou to the dismal realms forever gone! 910 

And I abandoned, desolate, alone! 
An only son, once comfort of our pains, 
Sad product now of hapless love, remains! 
Never to manly age that son shall rise, 
Or with increasing graces glad my eyes; 915 

For Ilion now (her great defender slain) 
Shall sink, a smoking ruin, on the plain. 



900. A melancholy choir, professional mourners are employed to lead the 
lament, to which the women keep up a chorus of " keening " or wailing. 



156 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

Who now protects her wives with guardian care? 

Who saves her infants from the rage of war? 

Now hostile fleets must waft those infants o'er 920 

(Those wives must wait them) to a foreign shore! 

Thou too, my son! to barb'rous climes shalt go, 

The sad companion of thy mother's woe; 

Driv'n hence a slave before the victor's sword, 

Condemn'd to toil for some inhuman lord. 925 

Or else some Greek, whose father press'd the plain, 

Or son, or brother, by great Hector slain, 

In Hector's blood his vengeance shall enjoy, 

And hurl thee headlong from the tow'rs of Troy. 

For thy stern father never spar'd a foe: 930 

Thence all these tears, and all this scene of woe! 

Thence, many evils his sad parents bore; 

His parents many, but his consort more. 

Why gav'st thou not to me thy dying hand? 

And why receiv'd not I thy last command? 935 

Some word thou wouldst have spoke, which sadly 

dear, 
My soul might keep, or utter with a tear; 
Which never, never could be lost in air; 
Fix'd in my heart, and oft repeated there! " 

Thus to her weeping maids she makes her moan; 
Her weeping handmaids echo groan for groan. 941 

The mournful mother next sustains her part: 
" thou, the best, the dearest of jny heart! 
Of all my race thou most by heav'n approv'd, 
And by the immortals ev'n in death belov'd! 945 

While all my other sons in barb'rous bands 
Achilles bound, and sold to foreign lands, 
This felt no chains, but went a glorious ghost, 
Free and a hero, to the Stygian coast. 



BOOK XXIV 157 

Sentenced, 'tis true, by his inhuman doom, 950 

Thy noble corse was dragged around the tomb 

(The tomb of him thy warlike arm had slain); 

Ungenerous insult, impotent and vain! 

Yet glow'st thou fresh with ev'ry living grace, . 

No mark of pain or violence of face; 955 

Eosy and fair! as Phoebus' silver bow 

Dismissed thee gently to the shades below." 

Thus spoke the dame, and melted into tears. 
Sad Helen next in pomp of grief appears: 
Fast from the shining sluices of her eyes 960 

Fall the round crystal drops, while thus she cries: 

" Ah, dearest friend! in whom the gods had joined 
The mildest manners with the bravest mind; 
Now twice ten years (unhappy years) are o'er 
Since Paris brought me to the Trojan shore 965 

(Oh had I perish'd, ere that form divine 
Seduc'd this soft, this easy heart cf mine!); 
Yet was it ne'er my fate from thee to find 
A deed ungentle or a word unkind: 
When others curs'd the auth'ress of their woe, 970 

Thy pity check'd my sorrows in their flow: 
If some proud brother ey'd me with disdain, 
Or scornful sister with her sweeping train, 
Thy gentle accents soften'd all my pain. 
For thee I mourn; and mourn myself in thee, 975 
The wretched source of all this misery! 
The fate I caus'd for ever I bemoan; 
Sad Helen has no friend now thou art gone! 
Through Troy's wide streets abandon'd shall I roam, 
In Troy deserted, as abhorr'd at home!" 980 

964. This line with its mention of twenty years has long been a matter of 
controversy for scholars. 



THE ILIAD OF HOMER 159 

So spoke the fair with sorrow-streaming eye; 
Distressful beauty melts each stander-by; 
On all around th' infectious sorrow grows; 
But Priam checked the torrent as it rose: 
" Perform, ye Trojans! what the rites require, 985 

And fell the forests for a funeral pyre; 
Twelve days, nor foes nor secret ambush dread; 
Achilles grants these honors to the dead." 

He spoke; and at his word the Trojan train 
Their mules and oxen harness to the wain, 990 

Pour through the gates, and, felFd from Ida's crown, 
Eoll back the gathered forests to the town. 
These toils continue nine succeeding days, 
And high in air a sylvan structure raise. 
But when the tenth fair morn began to shine, 995 

Forth to the pile was borne the man divine 
And placed aloft: while all, with streaming eyes, 
Beheld the flames and rolling smokes arise. 

Soon as Aurora, daughter of the dawn, 
With rosy luster streaked the dewy lawn, m 1000 

Again the mournful crowds surround the pyre, 
And quench with wine the yet-remaining fire. 
The snowy bones his friends and brothers place 
(With tears collected) in a golden vase; 
The golden vase in purple palls they roll'd 1005 

Of softest texture and inwrought with gold. 
Last, o'er the urn the sacred earth they spread, 
And raised the tomb, memorial of the dead 
(Strong guards and spies, till all the rites were 

done, * 

Watch'd from the rising to the setting sun). 1010 

994. Sylvan structure, the funeral pyre. 



160 THE ILIAD OF HOMER 

All Troy then moves to Priam's court again, 
A solemn, silent, melancholy train: 
Assembled there, from piouc toil they rest; 
And sadly shared the last sepulchral feast. 

Such honors Ilion to her hero paid, 1015 

And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade. 

1015-1016. Literally, " Thus held they f uneral for Hector, tamer of horses." 



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